On biorthogonal systems whose functionals are finitely supported

Abstract: We show that for each natural $n>1$ it is consistent that there is a compact Hausdorff space $K_{2n}$ such that in $C(K_{2n})$ there is no uncountable (semi)biorthogonal sequence $(f_\xi,\mu_\xi){\xi\in \omega_1}$ where $\mu\xi$'s are atomic measures with supports consisting of at most $2n-1$ points of $K_{2n}$, but there are biorthogonal systems $(f_\xi,\mu_\xi){\xi\in \omega_1}$ where $\mu\xi$'s are atomic measures with supports consisting of $2n$ points. This complements a result of Todorcevic that it is consistent that each nonseparable Banach space $C(K)$ has an uncountable biorthogonal system where the functionals are measures of the form $\delta_{x_\xi}-\delta_{y_\xi}$ for $\xi<\omega_1$ and $x_\xi,y_\xi\in K$. It also follows that it is consistent that the irredundance of the Boolean algebra $Clop(K)$ or the Banach algebra $C(K)$ for $K$ totally disconnected can be strictly smaller than the sizes of biorthogonal systems in $C(K)$. The compact spaces exhibit an interesting behaviour with respect to known cardinal functions: the hereditary density of the powers $K_{2n}^k$ is countable up to $k=n$ and it is uncountable (even the spread is uncountable) for $k>n$.