We say that κ is μ-hypermeasurable for a cardinal μ≥κ+ if there is an embedding j:V→M with critical point κ such that HV is included in M and j>μ. Such a j is called a witnessing embedding.Building on the results in [7], we will show that if V satisfies GCH and F is an Easton function from the regular cardinals into cardinals satisfying some mild restrictions, then there exists a cardinal-preserving forcing extension V* where F is realised on all V-regular (...) cardinals and moreover, all F-hypermeasurable cardinals κ, where F>κ+, with a witnessing embedding j such that either j=κ+ or j≥F, are turned into singular strong limit cardinals with cofinality ω. This provides some partial information about the possible structure of a continuum function with respect to singular cardinals with countable cofinality.As a corollary, this shows that the continuum function on a singular strong limit cardinal κ of cofinality ω is virtually independent of the behaviour of the continuum function below κ, at least for continuum functions which are simple in that 2α{α+,α++} for every cardinal α below κ ≥F or j=κ+). (shrink)

We show that it is consistent, relative to a supercompact limit of supercompact cardinals, for the least strongly compact cardinal k to be both the least measurable cardinal and to be > 2k supercompact.

Combining techniques of the first author and Shelah with ideas of Magidor, we show how to get a model in which, for fixed but arbitrary finite n, the first n strongly compact cardinals κ 1 ,..., κ n are so that κ i for i = 1,..., n is both the i th measurable cardinal and κ + i supercompact. This generalizes an unpublished theorem of Magidor and answers a question of Apter and Shelah.

The dissertation under comment is a contribution to the area of Set Theory concerned with the interactions between the method of Forcing and the so-called Large Cardinal axioms.The dissertation is divided into two thematic blocks. In Block I we analyze the large-cardinal hierarchy between the first supercompact cardinal and Vopěnka’s Principle. In turn, Block II is devoted to the investigation of some problems arising from Singular Cardinal Combinatorics.We commence Part I by investigating the Identity Crisis phenomenon in the region comprised (...) between the first supercompact cardinal and Vopěnka’s Principle. As a result, we generalize Magidor’s classical theorems [2] to this higher region of the large-cardinal hierarchy. Also, our analysis allows to settle all the questions that were left open in [1]. Finally, we conclude Part I by presenting a general theory of preservation of $C^{}$ -extendible cardinals under class forcing iterations. From this analysis we derive several applications. For instance, our arguments are used to show that an extendible cardinal is consistent with “ $^{\mathrm {HOD}}<\lambda ^+$, for every regular cardinal $\lambda $.” In particular, if Woodin’s HOD Conjecture holds, and therefore it is provable in ZFC + “There exists an extendible cardinal” that above the first extendible cardinal every singular cardinal $\lambda $ is singular in HOD and $^{\textrm {{HOD}}}=\lambda ^+$, there may still be no agreement at all between V and HOD about successors of regular cardinals.In Part II and Part III we analyse the relationship between the Singular Cardinal Hypothesis with other relevant combinatorial principles at the level of successors of singular cardinals. Two of these are the Tree Property and the Reflection of Stationary sets, which are central in Infinite Combinatorics.Specifically, Part II is devoted to prove the consistency of the Tree Property at both $\kappa ^+$ and $\kappa ^{++}$, whenever $\kappa $ is a strong limit singular cardinal witnessing an arbitrary failure of the SCH. This generalizes the main result of [3] in two senses: it allows arbitrary cofinalities for $\kappa $ and arbitrary failures for the SCH.In the last part of the dissertation we introduce the notion of $\Sigma $ -Prikry forcing. This new concept allows an abstract and uniform approach to the theory of Prikry-type forcings and encompasses several classical examples of Prikry-type forcing notions, such as the classical Prikry forcing, the Gitik-Sharon poset, or the Extender Based Prikry forcing, among many others.Our motivation in this part of the dissertation is to prove an iteration theorem at the level of the successor of a singular cardinal. Specifically, we aim for a theorem asserting that every $\kappa ^{++}$ -length iteration with support of size $\leq \kappa $ has the $\kappa ^{++}$ -cc, provided the iterates belong to a relevant class of $\kappa ^{++}$ -cc forcings. While there are a myriad of works on this vein for regular cardinals, this contrasts with the dearth of investigations in the parallel context of singular cardinals. Our main contribution is the proof that such a result is available whenever the class of forcings under consideration is the family of $\Sigma $ -Prikry forcings. Finally, and as an application, we prove that it is consistent—modulo large cardinals—the existence of a strong limit cardinal $\kappa $ with countable cofinality such that $\mathrm {SCH}_\kappa $ fails and every finite family of stationary subsets of $\kappa ^+$ reflects simultaneously. (shrink)

We show the consistency, relative to the appropriate supercompactness or strong compactness assumptions, of the existence of a non-supercompact strongly compact cardinal $\kappa _0$ (the least measurable cardinal) exhibiting properties which are impossible when $\kappa _0$ is supercompact. In particular, we construct models in which $\square _{\kappa ^+}$ holds for every inaccessible cardinal $\kappa $ except $\kappa _0$, GCH fails at every inaccessible cardinal except $\kappa _0$, and $\kappa _0$ is less than the least Woodin cardinal.

Assume \ is a singular limit of \ supercompact cardinals, where \ is a limit ordinal. We present two methods for arranging the tree property to hold at \ while making \ the successor of the limit of the first \ measurable cardinals. The first method is then used to get, from the same assumptions, the tree property at \ with the failure of SCH at \. This extends results of Neeman and Sinapova. The second method is also used to (...) get the tree property at the successor of an arbitrary singular cardinal, which extends some results of Magidor–Shelah, Neeman and Sinapova. (shrink)

Using the analysis developed in our earlier paper, we show that every uncountable cardinal in Gitik's model of in which all uncountable cardinals are singular is almost Ramsey and is also a Rowbottom cardinal carrying a Rowbottom filter. We assume that the model of is constructed from a proper class of strongly compact cardinals, each of which is a limit of measurable cardinals. Our work consequently reduces the best previously known upper bound in consistency strength for the theory math formula (...) + “All uncountable cardinals are singular” + “Every uncountable cardinal is both almost Ramsey and a Rowbottom cardinal carrying a Rowbottom filter”. (shrink)

We characterize the situation of having at least $^{+}$-many normal ultrafilters on a measurable cardinal $\kappa$. We also show that if $\kappa$ is a compact cardinal, then $\kappa$ carries $^{+}$-many $\kappa$-complete ultrafilters, each of which extends the club filter on $\kappa$.

In this paper we introduce the Wholeness Axiom , which asserts that there is a nontrivial elementary embedding from V to itself. We formalize the axiom in the language {∈, j } , adding to the usual axioms of ZFC all instances of Separation, but no instance of Replacement, for j -formulas, as well as axioms that ensure that j is a nontrivial elementary embedding from the universe to itself. We show that WA has consistency strength strictly between I 3 (...) and the existence of a cardinal that is super- n -huge for every n . ZFC + WA is used as a background theory for studying generalizations of Laver sequences. We define the notion of Laver sequence for general classes E consisting of elementary embeddings of the form i :V β → M , where M is transitive, and use five globally defined large cardinal notions – strong, supercompact, extendible, super-almost-huge, superhuge – for examples and special cases of the main results. Assuming WA at the beginning, and eventually refining the hypothesis as far as possible, we prove the existence of a strong form of Laver sequence for a broad range of classes E that include the five large cardinal types mentioned. We show that if κ is globally superstrong, if E is Laver-closed at beth fixed points, and if there are superstrong embeddings i with critical point κ and arbitrarily large targets such that E is weakly compatible with i , then our standard constructions are E -Laver at κ . , there is an extendible Laver sequence at κ .) In addition, in most cases our Laver sequences can be made special if E is upward λ -closed for sufficiently many λ. (shrink)

A cardinal κ is nearly θ-supercompact if for every A⊆θ, there exists a transitive M⊨ZFC− closed under θ and j″θ∈N.2 This concept strictly refines the θ-supercompactness hierarchy as every θ-supercompact cardinal is nearly θ-supercompact, and every nearly 2θ<κ-supercompact cardinal κ is θ-supercompact. Moreover, if κ is a θ-supercompact cardinal for some θ such that θ<κ=θ, we can move to a forcing extension preserving all cardinals below θ++ where κ remains θ-supercompact but is not nearly θ+-supercompact. We will also show that (...) if κ is nearly θ-supercompact for some θ⩾2κ such that θ<θ=θ, then there exists a forcing extension preserving all cardinals at or above κ where κ is nearly θ-supercompact but not measurable. These types of large cardinals also come equipped with a nontrivial indestructibility result. A forcing poset is <κ-directed closed if it is γ-directed closed for all γ<κ in the sense of Jech [13, Def. 21.6]. We will prove that if κ is nearly θ-supercompact for some θ⩾κ such that θ<θ=θ, then there is a forcing extension where its near θ-supercompactness is preserved and indestructible by any further <κ-directed closed θ-c.c. forcing of size at most θ. Finally, these cardinals have high consistency strength. Specifically, we will show that if κ is nearly θ-supercompact for some θ⩾κ+ for which θ<θ=θ, then AD holds in L. In particular, if κ is nearly κ+-supercompact and 2κ=κ+, then AD holds in L. (shrink)

In this article, we introduce the notion of weakly measurable cardinal, a new large cardinal concept obtained by weakening the familiar concept of a measurable cardinal. Specifically, a cardinal κ is weakly measurable if for any collection equation image containing at most κ+ many subsets of κ, there exists a nonprincipal κ-complete filter on κ measuring all sets in equation image. Every measurable cardinal is weakly measurable, but a weakly measurable cardinal need not be measurable. Moreover, while the GCH cannot (...) fail first at a measurable cardinal, I will show that it can fail first at a weakly measurable cardinal. More generally, if κ is measurable, then we can make its weak measurability indestructible by the forcing Add for any η while forcing the GCH to hold below κ. Nevertheless, I shall prove that weakly measurable cardinals and measurable cardinals are equiconsistent. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. (shrink)

A cardinal κ is tall if for every ordinal θ there is an embedding j: V → M with critical point κ such that j > θ and Mκ ⊆ M. Every strong cardinal is tall and every strongly compact cardinal is tall, but measurable cardinals are not necessarily tall. It is relatively consistent, however, that the least measurable cardinal is tall. Nevertheless, the existence of a tall cardinal is equiconsistent with the existence of a strong cardinal. Any tall cardinal (...) κ can be made indestructible by a variety of forcing notions, including forcing that pumps up the value of 2κ as high as desired. (shrink)

For any ordinal δ, let λδ be the least inaccessible cardinal above δ. We force and construct a model in which the least supercompact cardinal κ is indestructible under κ-directed closed forcing and in which every measurable cardinal δ < κ is < λδ strongly compact and has its < λδ strong compactness indestructible under δ-directed closed forcing of rank less than λδ. In this model, κ is also the least strongly compact cardinal. We also establish versions of this result (...) in which κ is the least strongly compact cardinal but is not supercompact. (shrink)

We force and obtain three models in which level by level equivalence between strong compactness and supercompactness holds and in which, below the least supercompact cardinal, GCH fails unboundedly often. In two of these models, GCH fails on a set having measure 1 with respect to certain canonical measures. There are no restrictions in all of our models on the structure of the class of supercompact cardinals.

Starting with a model for “GCH + k is k+ supercompact”, we force and construct a model for “k is the least measurable cardinal + 2k = K+”. This model has the property that forcing over it with Add preserves the fact k is the least measurable cardinal.

We show that it is consistent, relative to n ∈ ω supercompact cardinals, for the strongly compact and measurable Woodin cardinals to coincide precisely. In particular, it is consistent for the first n strongly compact cardinals to be the first n measurable Woodin cardinals, with no cardinal above the n th strongly compact cardinal being measurable. In addition, we show that it is consistent, relative to a proper class of supercompact cardinals, for the strongly compact cardinals and the cardinals which (...) are both strong cardinals and Woodin cardinals to coincide precisely. We also show how the techniques employed can be used to prove additional theorems about possible relationships between Woodin cardinals and strongly compact cardinals. (shrink)

Let P be a forcing notion and $G\subseteq P$ its generic subset. Suppose that we have in $V[G]$ a $\kappa{-}$ complete ultrafilter1,2W over $\kappa $. Set $U=W\cap V$.

We prove two theorems concerning indestructibility properties of the first two strongly compact cardinals when these cardinals are in addition the first two measurable cardinals. Starting from two supercompact cardinals $\kappa _1 < \kappa _2$, we force and construct a model in which $\kappa _1$ and $\kappa _2$ are both the first two strongly compact and first two measurable cardinals, $\kappa _1$ ’s strong compactness is fully indestructible, and $\kappa _2$ ’s strong compactness is indestructible under $\mathrm {Add}$ for any (...) ordinal $\delta $. This provides an answer to a strengthened version of a question of Sargsyan found in [17, Question 5]. We also investigate indestructibility properties that may occur when the first two strongly compact cardinals are not only the first two measurable cardinals, but also exhibit nontrivial degrees of supercompactness. (shrink)

It is known that if $\kappa < \lambda$ are such that κ is indestructibly supercompact and λ is 2λ supercompact, then level by level equivalence between strong compactness and supercompactness fails. We prove a theorem which points towards this result being best possible. Specifically, we show that relative to the existence of a supercompact cardinal, there is a model for level by level equivalence between strong compactness and supercompactness containing a supercompact cardinal κ in which κ’s strong compactness is indestructible (...) under κ-directed closed forcing. (shrink)

We force and construct a model in which level by level equivalence between strong compactness and supercompactness holds, along with certain additional combinatorial properties. In particular, in this model, ♦ δ holds for every regular uncountable cardinal δ, and below the least supercompact cardinal κ, □ δ holds on a stationary subset of κ. There are no restrictions in our model on the structure of the class of supercompact cardinals.

We construct models containing exactly one supercompact cardinal in which level by level inequivalence between strong compactness and supercompactness holds. In each model, above the supercompact cardinal, there are finitely many strongly compact cardinals, and the strongly compact and measurable cardinals precisely coincide.

We show that assuming modest large cardinals, there is a definable class of ordinals, closed and unbounded beneath every uncountable cardinal, so that for any closed and unbounded subclasses $P, Q, {\langle L[P],\in,P \rangle }$ and ${\langle L[Q],\in,Q \rangle }$ possess the same reals, satisfy the Generalised Continuum Hypothesis, and moreover are elementarily equivalent. Examples of such P are Card, the class of uncountable cardinals, I the uniform indiscernibles, or for any n the class $C^{n}{=_{{\operatorname {df}}}}\{ \lambda \, | \, (...) V_{\lambda } \prec _{{\Sigma }_{n}}V\}$ ; moreover the theory of such models is invariant under ZFC-preserving extensions. They also all have a rich structure satisfying many of the usual combinatorial principles and a definable wellorder of the reals. The inner model constructed using definability in the language augmented by the Härtig quantifier is thus also characterized. (shrink)

The lottery preparation, a new general kind of Laver preparation, works uniformly with supercompact cardinals, strongly compact cardinals, strong cardinals, measurable cardinals, or what have you. And like the Laver preparation, the lottery preparation makes these cardinals indestructible by various kinds of further forcing. A supercompact cardinal κ, for example, becomes fully indestructible by <κ-directed closed forcing; a strong cardinal κ becomes indestructible by κ-strategically closed forcing; and a strongly compact cardinal κ becomes indestructible by, among others, the forcing to (...) add a Cohen subset to κ, the forcing to shoot a club Cκ avoiding the measurable cardinals and the forcing to add various long Prikry sequences. The lottery preparation works best when performed after fast function forcing, which adds a new completely general kind of Laver function for any large cardinal, thereby freeing the Laver function concept from the supercompact cardinal context. (shrink)

We force and construct models in which there are non-supercompact strongly compact cardinals which aren't measurable limits of strongly compact cardinals and in which level by level equivalence between strong compactness and supercompactness holds non-trivially except at strongly compact cardinals. In these models, every measurable cardinal κ which isn't either strongly compact or a witness to a certain phenomenon first discovered by Menas is such that for every regular cardinal λ > κ, κ is λ strongly compact iff κ is (...) λ supercompact. (shrink)

We investigate the indestructibility properties of strongly compact cardinals in universes where strong compactness suffers from identity crisis. We construct an iterative poset that can be used to establish Kimchi–Magidor theorem from (in The independence between the concepts of compactness and supercompactness, circulated manuscript), i.e., that the first n strongly compact cardinals can be the first n measurable cardinals. As an application, we show that the first n strongly compact cardinals can be the first n measurable cardinals while the strong (...) compactness of each strongly compact cardinal is indestructible under Levy collapses (our theorem is actually more general, see Sect. 3). A further application is that the class of strong cardinals can be nonempty yet coincide with the class of strongly compact cardinals while strong compactness of any strongly compact cardinal κ is indestructible under κ-directed closed posets that force GCH at κ. (shrink)

We provide an exposition of supercompact Radin forcing and present several methods for iterating Radin forcing.

We summarize the known methods of producing a non-supercompact strongly compact cardinal and describe some new variants. Our Main Theorem shows how to apply these methods to many cardinals simultaneously and exactly control which cardinals are supercompact and which are only strongly compact in a forcing extension. Depending upon the method, the surviving non-supercompact strongly compact cardinals can be strong cardinals, have trivial Mitchell rank or even contain a club disjoint from the set of measurable cardinals. These results improve and (...) unify Theorems 1 and 2 of [5], due to the first author. (shrink)

Starting from a model “κ is supercompact” + “No cardinal is supercompact up to a measurable cardinal”, we force and construct a model such that “κ is supercompact” + “No cardinal is supercompact up to a measurable cardinal” + “δ is measurable iff δ is tall” in which level by level equivalence between strong compactness and supercompactness holds. This extends and generalizes both [, Theorem 1] and the results of.

We show relative to strong hypotheses that patterns of compact cardinals in the universe, where a compact cardinal is one which is either strongly compact or supercompact, can be virtually arbitrary. Specifically, we prove if V “ZFC + Ω is the least inaccessible limit of measurable limits of supercompact cardinals + ƒ : Ω → 2 is a function”, then there is a partial ordering P V so that for , There is a proper class of compact cardinals + If (...) ƒ = 0, then the αth compact cardinal is not supercompact + If ƒ = 1, then the αth compact cardinal is supercompact”. We then prove a generalized version of this theorem assuming κ is a supercompact limit of supercompact cardinals and ƒ : κ → 2 is a function, and we derive as corollaries of the generalized version of the theorem the consistency of the least measurable limit of supercompact cardinals being the same as the least measurable limit of nonsupercompact strongly compact cardinals and the consistency of the least supercompact cardinal being a limit of strongly compact cardinals. (shrink)

A generalization of Příkrý's forcing is analyzed which adjoins to a model of ZFC a set of order type at most ω below each member of a discrete set of measurable cardinals. A characterization of generalized Příkrý generic sequences reminiscent of Mathias' criterion for Příkrý genericity is provided, together with a maximality theorem which states that a generalized Příkrý sequence almost contains every other one lying in the same extension.This forcing can be used to falsify the covering lemma for a (...) higher core model if there is an inner model with infinitely many measurable cardinals – changing neither cardinalities nor cofinalities. Another application is an alternative proof of a theorem of Mitchell stating that if the core model contains a regular limit θ of measurable cardinals, then there is a model in which every set of measurable cardinals of K bounded in θ has an indiscernible sequence but there is no such sequence for the entire set of measurables of K below θ. (shrink)

We study the Magidor iteration of Prikry forcings, and the resulting normal measures on κ\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\kappa}$$\end{document}, the first measurable cardinal in a generic extension. We show that when applying the iteration to a core model below 0¶\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${0^{\P}}$$\end{document}, then there exists a natural correspondence between the normal measures on κ\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\kappa}$$\end{document} in the ground model, and those (...) of the generic extension. (shrink)

Rado’s Conjecture is a compactness/reflection principle that says any nonspecial tree of height ω1 has a nonspecial subtree of size ℵ1. Though incompatible with Martin’s Axiom, Rado’s Conjecture turns out to have many interesting consequences that are also implied by certain forcing axioms. In this paper, we obtain consistency results concerning Rado’s Conjecture and its Baire version. In particular, we show that a fragment of PFA, which is the forcing axiom for Baire Indestructibly Proper forcings, is compatible with the Baire (...) Rado’s Conjecture. As a corollary, the Baire Rado’s Conjecture does not imply Rado’s Conjecture. Then we discuss the strength and limitations of the Baire Rado’s Conjecture regarding its interaction with stationary reflection principles and some families of weak square principles. Finally, we investigate the influence of Rado’s Conjecture on some polarized partition relations. (shrink)

We present a technique for destroying stationary subsets of Pκκ+ using partial square sequences. We combine this method with Gitik’s poset for changing the cofinality of a cardinal without adding bounded sets to prove a variety of consistency results concerning saturated ideals and the set S.

We address some questions raised in the paper by Magidor and Sinapova. An application to weak form of normality for strongly compact is given.

We prove that the property characterizes Σ‐algebraically compact modules if is not ω‐measurable. Moreover, under a large cardinal assumption, we show that over any ring R where is not ω‐measurable, any free module M of ω‐measurable rank satisfies, hence the assumption on cannot be dropped in general (e.g., over small non‐right perfect rings). In this way, we extend results from a recent paper by Simion Breaz.