Collapsing_algebra
In mathematics, a collapsing algebra is a type of Boolean algebra sometimes used in forcing to reduce ("collapse") the size of cardinals. The posets used to generate collapsing algebras were introduced by Azriel Lévy in 1963.[1]
The collapsing algebra of λω is a complete Boolean algebra with at least λ elements but generated by a countable number of elements. As the size of countably generated complete Boolean algebras is unbounded, this shows that there is no free complete Boolean algebra on a countable number of elements.