The independence of Stone’s Theorem from the Boolean Prime Ideal Theorem

Abstract

We give a permutation model in which Stone's Theorem (every metric space is paracompact) is false and the Boolean Prime Ideal Theorem (every ideal in a Boolean algebra extends to a prime ideal) is true. The erring metric space in our model attains only rational distances and is not metacompact. Transfer theorems give the comparable independence in the Zermelo-Fraenkel setting, answering a question of Good, Tree and Watson.