The large cardinal strength of weak Vopenka’s principle

We show that Weak Vopěnka’s Principle, which is the statement that the opposite category of ordinals cannot be fully embedded into the category of graphs, is equivalent to the large cardinal principle Ord is Woodin, which says that for every class [Formula: see text] there is a [Formula: see text]-strong cardinal. Weak Vopěnka’s Principle was already known to imply the existence of a proper class of measurable cardinals. We improve this lower bound to the optimal one by defining structures whose nontrivial homomorphisms can be used as extenders, thereby producing elementary embeddings witnessing [Formula: see text]-strongness of some cardinal.

VARSOVIAN MODELS I

Let Msw denote the least iterable inner model with a strong cardinal above a Woodin cardinal. By [11], Msw has a fully iterable core model, ${K^{{M_{{\rm{sw}}}}}}$, and Msw is thus the least iterable extender model which has an iterable core model with a Woodin cardinal. In V, ${K^{{M_{{\rm{sw}}}}}}$ is an iterate of Msw via its iteration strategy Σ.We here show that Msw has a bedrock which arises from ${K^{{M_{{\rm{sw}}}}}}$ by telling ${K^{{M_{{\rm{sw}}}}}}$ a specific fragment ${\rm{\bar{\Sigma }}}$ of its own iteration strategy, which in turn is a tail of Σ. Hence Msw is a generic extension of $L[{K^{{M_{{\rm{sw}}}}}},{\rm{\bar{\Sigma }}}]$, but the latter model is not a generic extension of any inner model properly contained in it.These results generalize to models of the form Ms (x) for a cone of reals x, where Ms (x) denotes the least iterable inner model with a strong cardinal containing x. In particular, the least iterable inner model with a strong cardinal above two (or seven, or boundedly many) Woodin cardinals has a 2-small core model K with a Woodin cardinal and its bedrock is again of the form $L[K,{\rm{\bar{\Sigma }}}]$.

THE HALPERN–LÄUCHLI THEOREM AT A MEASURABLE CARDINAL

Several variants of the Halpern–Läuchli Theorem for trees of uncountable height are investigated. Forκweakly compact, we prove that the various statements are all equivalent, and hence, the strong tree version holds for one tree on any weakly compact cardinal. For any finited≥ 2, we prove the consistency of the Halpern–Läuchli Theorem ondmany normalκ-trees at a measurable cardinalκ, given the consistency of aκ+d-strong cardinal. This follows from a more general consistency result at measurableκ, which includes the possibility of infinitely many trees, assuming partition relations which hold in models of AD.

INNER MODEL THEORETIC GEOLOGY

One of the basic concepts of set theoretic geology is the mantle of a model of set theory V: it is the intersection of all grounds of V, that is, of all inner models M of V such that V is a set-forcing extension of M. The main theme of the present paper is to identify situations in which the mantle turns out to be a fine structural extender model. The first main result is that this is the case when the universe is constructible from a set and there is an inner model with a Woodin cardinal. The second situation like that arises if L[E] is an extender model that is iterable in V but not internally iterable, as guided by P-constructions, L[E] has no strong cardinal, and the extender sequence E is ordinal definable in L[E] and its forcing extensions by collapsing a cutpoint to ω (in an appropriate sense). The third main result concerns the Solid Core of a model of set theory. This is the union of all sets that are constructible from a set of ordinals that cannot be added by set-forcing to an inner model. The main result here is that if there is an inner model with a Woodin cardinal, then the solid core is a fine-structural extender model.

Killing The GCH Everywhere with a Single Real

Shelah-Woodin [10] investigate the possibility of violating instances of GCH through the addition of a single real. In particular they show that it is possible to obtain a failure of CH by adding a single real to a model of GCH, preserving cofinalities. In this article we strengthen their result by showing that it is possible to violate GCH at all infinite cardinals by adding a single real to a model of GCH. Our assumption is the existence of an H(κ+3)-strong cardinal; by work of Gitik and Mitchell [6] it is known that more than an H(κ++)-strong cardinal is required.

Determinacy in strong cardinal models

We give limits defined in terms of abstract pointclasses of the amount of determinacy available in certain canonical inner models involving strong cardinals. We show for example:Theorem A. Det(-IND) ⇒ there exists an inner model with a strong cardinal.Theorem B. Det(AQI) ⇒ there exist type-l mice and hence inner models with proper classes of strong cardinals.where -IND(AQI) is the pointclass of boldface -inductive (respectively arithmetically quasi-inductive) sets of reals.

Local Kc constructions

The full-background-extender Kc -construction of [2] has the property that, if it does not break down and produces a final model , thenΉ is Woodin in V ⇒ Ή is Woodin in ,for all Ή. It is natural to ask whetherκ is strong in V ⇒ κ is λ-strong in ,for all κ, or even better,κ is λ-strong in V ⇒ κ is λ-strong in .As one might suspect, the more useful answer would be “yes”.For the Kc-construction of [2], this question is open. The problem is that the construction of [2] is not local: because of the full-background-extender demand, it may produce mice projecting to ρ at stages much greater than ρ. Because of this, there is no reason to believe that if E is a λ-strong extender of V, then The natural proof only gives that if κ is Σ2-strong, then Σ, is strong in .We do not know how to get started on this question, and suspect that in fact strong cardinals in V may fail to be strong in , if is the output of the construction of [2]. Therefore, we shall look for a modification of the construction of [2]. One might ask for a construction with output such that(1) iteration trees on can be lifted to iteration trees on V,(2) ∀δ(δ is Woodin ⇒ δ is Woodin in ), and(3) (a) ↾κ(κ is a strong cardinal ⇒ κ is strong in ), and (b) ↾κ↾λ(Lim(λ) Λ κ is λ-strong ⇒ κ is λ-strong in ).

Laver sequences for extendible and super-almost-huge cardinals

Versions of Laver sequences are known to exist for supercompact and strong cardinals. Assuming very strong axioms of infinity, Laver sequences can be constructed for virtually any globally defined large cardinal not weaker than a strong cardinal; indeed, under strong hypotheses. Laver sequences can be constructed for virtually any regular class of embeddings. We show here that if there is a regular class of embeddings with critical point κ, and there is an inaccessible above κ, then it is consistent for there to be a regular class that admits no Laver sequence. We also show that extendible cardinals are Laver-generating, i.e., that assuming only that κ is extendible, there is an extendible Laver sequence at κ. We use the method of proof to answer a question about Laver-closure of extendible cardinals at inaccessibles. Finally, we consider Laver sequences for super-almost-huge cardinals. Assuming slightly more than super-almost-hugeness, we show that there are super-almost-huge Laver sequences, improving the previously known upper bound for such Laver sequences. We also describe conditions under which the canonical construction of a Laver sequence fails for super-almost-huge cardinals.

Fine structure for tame inner models

In this paper, we solve the strong uniqueness problem posed in [St2]. That is, we extend the full fine structure theory of [MiSt] to backgrounded models all of whose levels are tame (defined in [St2] and below). As a consequence, more powerful large cardinal properties reflect to fine structural inner models. For example, we get the following extension to [MiSt, Theorem 11.3] and [St2, Theorem 0.3].Suppose that there is a strong cardinal that is a limit of Woodin cardinals. Then there is a good extender sequence such that(1) every level of is a sound, tame mouse, and(2) ⊨ “There is a strong cardinal that is a limit of Woodin cardinals”.Recall that satisfies GCH if all its levels are sound. Another consequence of our work is the following covering property, an extension to [St1, Theorem 1.4] and [St3, Theorem 1.10].Suppose that fi is a normal measure on Ω and that all premice are tame. Then Kc, the background certified core model, exists and is a premouse of height Ω. Moreover, for μ-almost every α < Ω.Ideas similar to those introduced here allow us to extend the fine structure theory of [Sch] to the level of tame mice. The details of this extension shall appear elsewhere. From the extension of [Sch] and Theorem 0.2, new relative consistency results follow. For example, we have the following application.If there is a cardinal κ such that κ is κ+-strongly compact, then there is a premouse that is not tame.