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Analytic set

Concept in descriptive set theory (mathematics)

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Source updated May 23, 2026

In the mathematical field of descriptive set theory, a subset of a Polish space $X$ is an analytic set if it is a continuous image of a Polish space. These sets were first defined by Luzin (1917) and his student Souslin (1917).

01Definition

There are several equivalent definitions of analytic set. The following conditions on a subspace A of a Polish space X are equivalent:

A is analytic.
A is empty or a continuous image of the Baire space ω^ω.
A is a Suslin space, in other words A is the image of a Polish space under a continuous mapping.
A is the continuous image of a Borel set in a Polish space.
A is a Suslin set, the image of the Suslin operation.
There is a Polish space $Y$ and a Borel set $B\subseteq X\times Y$ such that $A$ is the projection of $B$ onto $X$ ; that is,

$A=\{x\in X|(\exists y\in Y)\langle x,y\rangle \in B\}.$

A is the projection of a closed set in the cartesian product of X with the Baire space.
A is the projection of a G_δ set in the cartesian product of X with the Cantor space 2^ω.

An alternative characterization, in the specific, important, case that $X$ is Baire space ω^ω, is that the analytic sets are precisely the projections of trees on $\omega \times \omega$ . Similarly, the analytic subsets of Cantor space 2^ω are precisely the projections of trees on $2\times \omega$ .

02Properties

Analytic subsets of Polish spaces are closed under countable unions and intersections, continuous images, and inverse images. The complement of an analytic set need not be analytic. Suslin proved that if the complement of an analytic set is analytic then the set is Borel. (Conversely any Borel set is analytic and Borel sets are closed under complements.) Luzin proved more generally that any two disjoint analytic sets are separated by a Borel set: in other words there is a Borel set including one and disjoint from the other. This is sometimes called the "Luzin separability principle" (though it was implicit in the proof of Suslin's theorem).

Analytic sets are always Lebesgue measurable (indeed, universally measurable) and have the property of Baire and the perfect set property.

03Examples

When $A$ is a set of natural numbers, refer to the set $\{x-y\mid y\leq x\land x,y\in A\}$ as the difference set of $A$ . The set of difference sets of natural numbers is an analytic set, and is complete for analytic sets.

04Projective hierarchy

Analytic sets are also called ${\boldsymbol {\Sigma }}_{1}^{1}$ (see projective hierarchy). Note that the bold font in this symbol is not the Wikipedia convention, but rather is used distinctively from its lightface counterpart $\Sigma _{1}^{1}$ (see analytical hierarchy). The complements of analytic sets are called coanalytic sets, and the set of coanalytic sets is denoted by ${\boldsymbol {\Pi }}_{1}^{1}$ . The intersection ${\boldsymbol {\Delta }}_{1}^{1}={\boldsymbol {\Sigma }}_{1}^{1}\cap {\boldsymbol {\Pi }}_{1}^{1}$ is the set of Borel sets.

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Analytic set”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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