In mathematics, a Hausdorff gap consists roughly of two collections of sequences of integers, such that there is no sequence lying between the two collections. The first example was found by Hausdorff (1909). The existence of Hausdorff gaps shows that the partially ordered set of possible growth rates of sequences is not complete.
Definition
Let ωω be the set of all sequences of non-negative integers, and define f < g to mean lim g(n) – f(n) = +∞.
If X is a poset and κ and λ are cardinals, then a (κ,λ)-pregap in X is a set of elements fα for α in κ and a set of elements gβ for β in λ such that
A pregap is called a gap if it satisfies the additional condition:
A Hausdorff gap is a (ω1,ω1)-gap in ωω such that for every countable ordinal α and every natural number n there are only a finite number of β less than α such that for all k > n we have fα(k) < gβ(k).
There are some variations of these definitions, with the ordered set ωω replaced by a similar set. For example, one can redefine f < g to mean f(n) < g(n) for all but finitely many n. Another variation introduced by Hausdorff (1936) is to replace ωω by the set of all subsets of ω, with the order given by A < B if A has only finitely many elements not in B but B has infinitely many elements not in A.