The Necessary Maximality Principle for c.c.c. forcing asserts that any statement about a real in a c.c.c. extension that could become true in a further c.c.c. extension and remain true in all subsequent c.c.c. extensions, is already true in the minimal extension containing the real. We show that this principle is equiconsistent with the existence of a weakly compact cardinal.
We present new, streamlined proofs of certain maximality principles studied by Hamkins and Woodin. Moreover, we formulate an intermediate maximality principle, which is shown here to be equiconsistent with the existence of a weakly compact cardinal $κ$ such that $V_κ\prec V$.
In this paper, following an idea of Christophe Chalons, I propose a new kind of forcing axiom, the Maximality Principle, which asserts that any sentence phi holding in some forcing extension V^P and all subsequent extensions V^P*Q holds already in V. It follows, in fact, that such sentences must also hold in all forcing extensions of V. In modal terms, therefore, the Maximality Principle is expressed by the scheme (diamond box phi) implies (box phi), and is equivalent to the modal theory S5. In this article, I prove that the Maximality Principle is relatively consistent with ZFC. A boldface ve…
We consider a weak version of Schindler's remarkable cardinals that may fail to be $Σ_2$-reflecting. We show that the $Σ_2$-reflecting weakly remarkable cardinals are exactly the remarkable cardinals, and we show that the existence of a non-$Σ_2$-reflecting weakly remarkable cardinal has higher consistency strength: it is equiconsistent with the existence of an $ω$-Erdős cardinal. We give an application involving gVP, the generic Vopěnka principle defined by Bagaria, Gitman, and Schindler. Namely, we show that gVP + "Ord is not $Δ_2$-Mahlo" and $\text{gVP}({\bfΠ}_1)$ + "there is no proper clas…
We show that the statement "every universally Baire set of reals has the perfect set property" is equiconsistent modulo ZFC with the existence of a cardinal that we call a virtually Shelah cardinal. These cardinals resemble Shelah cardinals but are much weaker: if $0^\sharp$ exists then every Silver indiscernible is virtually Shelah in $L$. We also show that the statement $\text{uB} = {\bfΔ}^1_2$, where $\text{uB}$ is the pointclass of all universally Baire sets of reals, is equiconsistent modulo ZFC with the existence of a $Σ_2$-reflecting virtually Shelah cardinal.
We generalise the $α$-Ramsey cardinals introduced in Holy and Schlicht (2018) for cardinals $α$ to arbitrary ordinals $α$, and answer several questions posed in that paper. In particular, we show that $α$-Ramseys are downwards absolute to the core model $K$ for all $α$ of uncountable cofinality, that strategic $ω$-Ramsey cardinals are equiconsistent with remarkable cardinals and that strategic $α$-Ramsey cardinals are equiconsistent with measurable cardinals for all $α>ω$. We also show that the $n$-Ramseys satisfy indescribability properties and use them to provide a game-theoretic characteris…
In this paper we consider the Foreman's maximality principle, which says that any non-trivial forcing notion either adds a new real or collapses some cardinals. We prove the consistency of some of its consequences. We prove that it is consistent that every $c.c.c.$ forcing adds a real and that for every uncountable regular cardinal $κ$, every $κ$-closed forcing of size $2^{<κ}$ collapses some cardinals.
We construct a Borel graph G such that ZF+DC+"There are no maximal independent sets in G" is equiconsistent with ZFC+"There exists an inaccessible cardinal".
If T is an iteration tree on K and F is a countably certified extender that coheres with the final model of T, then F is on the extender sequence of the final model of T. Several applications of maximality are proved, including: o K computes successors of weakly compact cardinals correctly. o K^c is an iterate of K. o (with Mitchell) If alpha is a cardinal > aleph_1, then K-restriction-alpha is universal for mice of height alpha. Other results in this paper, when combined with work of Woodin, imply: o If square-kappa-finite fails and kappa is a singular, strong limit cardinal, then Inductive D…
We introduce the resurrection axioms, a new class of forcing axioms, and the uplifting cardinals, a new large cardinal notion, and prove that various instances of the resurrection axioms are equiconsistent over ZFC with the existence of an uplifting cardinal.
We isolate a new large cardinal concept, "remarkability." Consistencywise, remarkable cardinals are between ineffable and omega-Erdos cardinals. They are characterized by the existence of "0^sharp-like" embeddings; however, they relativize down to L. It turns out that the existence of a remarkable cardinal is equiconsistent with L(R) absoluteness under proper forcings. In particular, said absoluteness does not imply Pi^1_1 determinacy.
It is shown that the existence of a measurable cardinal is equiconsistent to a model of ZFC in which there is no ordinal-definable, stationary, costationary subset of $ω_1$
Remarkable cardinals were introduced by Schindler, who showed that the existence of a remarkable cardinal is equiconsistent with the assertion that the theory of $L(\mathbb R)$ is absolute for proper forcing. Here, we study the indestructibility properties of remarkable cardinals. We show that if $κ$ is remarkable, then there is a forcing extension in which the remarkability of $κ$ becomes indestructible by all $\ltκ$-closed $\leqκ$-distributive forcing and all two-step iterations of the form ${\rm Add}(κ,θ)*\dot{\mathbb R}$, where $\dot{\mathbb R}$ is forced to be $\ltκ$-closed and $\leqκ$-di…
We define a generic Vopěnka cardinal to be an inaccessible cardinal $κ$ such that for every first-order language $\mathcal{L}$ of cardinality less than $κ$ and every set $\mathscr{B}$ of $\mathcal{L}$-structures, if $|\mathscr{B}| = κ$ and every structure in $\mathscr{B}$ has cardinality less than $κ$, then an elementary embedding between two structures in $\mathscr{B}$ exists in some generic extension of $V$. We investigate connections between generic Vopěnka cardinals in models of ZFC and the number and complexity of $\aleph_1$-Suslin sets of reals in models of ZF. In particular, we show tha…
We study various classes of maximality principles, $\rm{MP}(κ,Γ)$, introduced by J.D. Hamkins, where $Γ$ defines a class of forcing posets and $κ$ is a cardinal. We explore the consistency strength and the relationship of $\textsf{MP}(κ,Γ)$ with various forcing axioms when $κ\in\{ω,ω_1\}$. In particular, we give a characterization of bounded forcing axioms for a class of forcings $Γ$ in terms of maximality principles MP$(ω_1,Γ)$ for $Σ_1$ formulas. A significant part of the paper is devoted to studying the principle MP$(κ,Γ)$ where $κ\in\{ω,ω_1\}$ and $Γ$ defines the class of stationary set pr…
Given a Woodin cardinal $δ$, I show that if $F$ is any Easton function with $F"δ\subseteqδ$ and $\GCH$ holds, then there is a cofinality-preserving forcing extension in which $2^γ= F(γ)$ for each regular cardinal $γ<δ$, and in which $δ$ remains Woodin. I also present a new example in which forcing a certain behavior of the continuum function on the regular cardinals, while preserving a given large cardinal, requires large cardinal strength beyond that of the original large cardinal under consideration. Specifically, I prove that the existence of a $λ$-supercompact cardinal $κ$ such that $\GCH$…
Chang's Conjecture (CC) asserts that for every $F:[ω_2]^{<ω} \to ω_2$, there exists an $X$ that is closed under $F$ such that $|X|=ω_1$ and $|X \cap ω_1| =ω$. By classic results of Silver and Donder, CC is equiconsistent with an $ω_1$-Erdos cardinal. Using stronger large cardinal assumptions (between $o(κ) = κ^+$ and $o(κ) = κ^{++}$), we prove that it is consistent to also require that $X$ contains a closed unbounded set of ordinals in $\text{sup}(X \cap ω_2)$. We denote this stronger principle \textbf{Club-CC}, and also show that, unlike CC, Club-CC implies failure of certain weak square prin…
We analyze the precise modal commitments of several natural varieties of set-theoretic potentialism, using tools we develop for a general model-theoretic account of potentialism, building on those of Hamkins, Leibman and Löwe, including the use of buttons, switches, dials and ratchets. Among the potentialist conceptions we consider are: rank potentialism (true in all larger $V_β$); Grothendieck-Zermelo potentialism (true in all larger $V_κ$ for inaccessible cardinals $κ$); transitive-set potentialism (true in all larger transitive sets); forcing potentialism (true in all forcing extensions); c…
It is shown that the boldface maximality principle for subcomplete forcing, together with the assumption that the universe has only set-many grounds, implies the existence of a (parameter-free) definable well-ordering of $\mathcal{P}(ω_1)$. The same conclusion follows from the boldface maximality for subcomplete forcing, assuming there is no inner model with an inaccessible limit of measurable cardinals. Similarly, the bounded subcomplete forcing axiom, together with the assumption that $x^\#$ does not exist, for some $x\subseteqω_1$, implies the existence of a well-order of $\mathcal{P}(ω_1)$…
I explore two separate topics: the concept of jointness for set-theoretic guessing principles, and the notion of grounded forcing axioms. A family of guessing sequences is said to be joint if all of its members can guess any given family of targets independently and simultaneously. I primarily investigate jointness in the case of various kinds of Laver diamonds. In the case of measurable cardinals I show that, while the assertions that there are joint families of Laver diamonds of a given length get strictly stronger with increasing length, they are all equiconsistent. This is contrasted with …
We introduce and consider the inner-model reflection principle, which asserts that whenever a statement $φ(a)$ in the first-order language of set theory is true in the set-theoretic universe $V$, then it is also true in a proper inner model $W\subsetneq V$. A stronger principle, the ground-model reflection principle, asserts that any such $φ(a)$ true in $V$ is also true in some non-trivial ground model of the universe with respect to set forcing. These principles each express a form of width reflection in contrast to the usual height reflection of the Lévy-Montague reflection theorem. They are…
The modal logic of forcing arises when one considers a model of set theory in the context of all its forcing extensions, interpreting necessity as "in all forcing extensions" and possibility as "in some forcing extension". In this modal language one may easily express sweeping general forcing principles, such as the assertion that every possibly necessary statement is necessarily possible, which is valid for forcing, or the assertion that every possibly necessary statement is true, which is the maximality principle, a forcing axiom independent of but equiconsistent with ZFC (Stavi-Väänänen, Ha…
