The contour of a family of filters along a filter is a set-theoretic lower limit. Topologicity and regularity of convergences can be characterized with the aid of the contour operation. Contour inversion is studied, in particular, for iterated contours of sequential cascades. A related problem of continuous extension of maps between maximal elements of sequential cascades to full subcascades is solved in full generality.

Abstract M. E. Rudin (1971) proved, under CH, that for each P-point p there exists a P-point q strictly RK-greater than p. This result was proved under ${\mathfrak {p}= \mathfrak {c}}$ by A. Blass (1973), who also showed that each RK-increasing $ \omega $ -sequence of P-points is upper bounded by a P-point, and that there is an order embedding of the real line into the class of P-points with respect to the RK-ordering. In this paper, the results cited above are proved under the (weaker) assumption that $\mathfrak { b}=\mathfrak {c}$ . A. Blass asked in 1973 which ordinals can be embedded in the set of P-points, and pointed out that such an ordinal cannot be greater than $ \mathfrak {c}^{+}$ . In this paper it is proved, under $\mathfrak {b}=\mathfrak {c}$ , that for each ordinal $\alpha < \mathfrak {c}^{+}$ , there is an order embedding of $ \alpha $ into P-points. It is also proved, under $\mathfrak {b}=\mathfrak {c}$ , that there is an embedding of the long line into P-points.

Abstract We classify ultrafilters on ω with respect to sequential contours (see [4]. [5]) of different ranks. In this way we obtain an ω1 sequence of disjoint classes. We prove that non-emptiness of for successor α ≥ 2 is equivalent to the existence of P-point. We investigate relations between P-hierarchy and ordinal ultrafilters (introduced by J. E. Baumgartner in [1]). we prove that it is relatively consistent with ZFC that the successor classes (for α ≥ 2) of P-hierarchy and ordinal ultrafilters intersect but are not the same.