Problem #16

Axiom of Choice and bases for vector spaces over a specific field

Open!!High impact — resolution would likely be publishable in a top journal (Advances-level or above)

Blass proved in ZF\mathsf{ZF} that if every vector space has a basis then the Axiom of Choice holds. However, his proof depends on vector spaces over all fields having bases. Does the implication still hold if we only consider vector spaces over a single fixed field?

There are really two versions of this question.

  1. Is it provable in ZF\mathsf{ZF} that if there is some field for which every vector space has a basis then the Axiom of Choice holds?
  2. Is there some specific natural field FF such as F2,Q,R,\mathbb{F}_2, \mathbb{Q}, \mathbb{R}, or C\mathbb{C} such that it is provable in ZF\mathsf{ZF} that if every vector space over FF has a basis then the Axiom of Choice holds?

Note that a positive answer to the second question implies a positive answer to the first question.

Known Partial Results

  • Blass proved in ZF\mathsf{ZF} that if every vector space has a basis then the Axiom of Choice holds [Bla83].
  • Keremedis showed in ZFA\mathsf{ZFA} that if, in every vector space over F2\mathbb{F}_2, every generating set contains a basis then the Axiom of Choice holds [Ker96].
  • Keremedis showed in ZFA\mathsf{ZFA} that if every vector space over Q\mathbb{Q} has a basis then for each nn, every well-ordered family of nn-element sets has an infinite subset with a choice function [Ker01].
  • Morillon showed over ZFA\mathsf{ZFA} that if every vector space over F2\mathbb{F}_2 has a basis then the Axiom of Choice for families of sets of size 22 holds [Mor09].

Notes

There is a related question stemming from Blass's theorem. Blass showed in ZF\mathsf{ZF} that if every vector space has a basis then the Axiom of Choice holds. However, his proof does not work over ZFA\mathsf{ZFA}, i.e. ZF\mathsf{ZF} with the Axiom of Extensionality modified to allow atoms. It is an open question whether the implication holds over ZFA\mathsf{ZFA}.

Reference for the problem statement

[HT13]Paul Howard and Eleftherios Tachtsis, On vector spaces over specific fields without choice, Mathematical Logic Quarterly, 2013 [doi]

Additional References

[Bla83]Andreas Blass, Existence of bases implies the axiom of choice, 1983 [link] [doi]

[Ker96]Kyriakos Keremedis, Bases for vector spaces over the two-element field and the axiom of choice, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, 1996 [doi]

[Mor09]Marianne Morillon, Linear forms and axioms of choice, Comment. Math. Univ. Carolin., 2009

[Ker01]Kyriakos Keremedis, The vector space Kinna-Wagner principle is equivalent to the axiom of choice, Mathematical Logic Quarterly, 2001

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