Definition. Borel sets of real fields [fdip-002D]

A sigma-algebra on a set \(X\) is a family of subsets containing \(X\) and closed under complements and countable unions. It is also closed under countable intersections, by taking complements. The Borel sigma-algebra \(\mathcal B(X)\) of a topological space is the smallest sigma-algebra containing all its open sets; see [tao2011measure, Definition 1.4.16, p. 87, preliminary version].

On the real field space, define the coordinate-product sigma-algebra \(\Sigma _V\) to be generated by all cylinders \(\{x:x(v)\in B\}\), where \(v\in V\) and \(B\in \mathcal B(\mathbb R)\). This is the product construction of [tao2011measure, Section 1.7.4, pp. 194-195, preliminary version]. The Borel-product proposition identifies it with \(\mathcal B(X_V)\). We use this Borel structure without completion: no additional subsets of null sets are adjoined.

For the singleton \(X_\varnothing \), the Borel structure is \(\{\varnothing ,X_\varnothing \}\). A product of completed factor sigma-algebras need not be the completed product sigma-algebra; these constructions are distinguished in [tao2011measure, p. 94 and Exercise 1.7.19, p. 195, preliminary version].