On a problem of von Neumann and Maharam
Abstract:
The 1937 problem of John von Neumann from the Scottish book
asks for an algebraic description of measure algebras. In
particular, von Neumann conjectured that if a complete Boolean
algebra satisfies the countable chain condition and the weak
distributive law then it carries a strictly positive countably
additive measure. In the 1940's Dorothy Maharam Stone modified
the problem, replacing "countably additive measure" by "continuous
submeasure", and introduced a technique that uses topology and
convergence in Boolean algebras.
In my talk I shall describe the recent solution of the von Neumann-
Maharam problem (Balcar-Jech-Pazak).