A covering lemma for L(ℝ)

Abstract.

Jensen's celebrated Covering Lemma states that if 0^# does not exist, then for any uncountable set of ordinals X, there is a Y∈L such that X⊆Y and |X| = |Y|. Working in ZF + AD alone, we establish the following analog: If ℝ^# does not exist, then L(ℝ) and V have exactly the same sets of reals and for any set of ordinals X with |X| ≥Θ^{L (ℝ)}, there is a Y∈L(ℝ) such that X⊆Y and |X| = |Y|. Here ℝ is the set of reals and Θ is the supremum of the ordinals which are the surjective image of ℝ.