Galvin's Question on non-$\sigma$-Well Ordered Linear Orders

Abstract

Assume $\mathcal{C}$ is the class of all linear orders $L$ such that $L$ is not a countable union of well ordered sets, and every uncountable subset of $L$ contains a copy of ${\omega }_1$. We show it is consistent that $\mathcal{C}$ has minimal elements. This answers an old question due to Galvin.

15 pages