A cardinal kappa is countably closed if mu^omega < kappa whenever mu < kappa.
Assume that there is no inner model with a Woodin cardinal and that every set has a sharp. Let K be the core model. Assume that kappa is a countably closed cardinal and that alpha is a successor cardinal of K with kappa < alpha < kappa^+. Then cf( alpha ) = kappa. In particular, K computes successors of countably closed singular cardinals correctly.
(The hypothesis of countable closure is not required; see "Weak covering without countable closure", W. J. Mitchell and E. Schimmerling, Math. Res. Lett., Vol. 2, No. 5, Sept. 1995.)
Despite being an established notion in the large cardinal hierarchy, results about Woodin cardinals are sparse in the literature. Here we gather known results about the preservation of Woodin cardinals under certain forcing extensions, as well as giving a template for preserving Woodin cardinals through forcing. Using this template, we form an indestructibility result under certain Easton iterations.
Suppose that there is a measurable cardinal. If \aleph_ωis a strong limit cardinal, but the power of \aleph_ωis bigger than \aleph_{ω_1}, then there is an inner model with a Woodin cardinal. Modulo the need of the measurable cardinal this answers a question of Gitik and Mitchell.
We give the definition of Woodin for strong compactness cardinals, the Woodinised version of strong compactness, and we prove an analogue of Magidor's identity crisis theorem for the first strongly compact cardinal.
It is shown that if there is a measurable cardinal above n Woodin cardinals and M_{n+1}^# doesn't exist then K exists. K is not fully iterable, though, but only iterable with respect to stacks of certain trees living between the Woodin cardinals. However, it is still true that if M is an omega-closed iterate of V then K^M is an iterate of K.
After small forcing, almost every strongness embedding is the lift of a strongness embedding in the ground model. Consequently, small forcing creates neither strong nor Woodin cardinals.
Under the assumption that $δ$ is a Woodin cardinal and $\GCH$ holds, I show that if $F$ is any class function from the regular cardinals to the cardinals such that (1) $κ<\cf(F(κ))$, (2) $κ<λ$ implies $F(κ)\leq F(λ)$, and (3) $δ$ is closed under $F$, 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. Unlike the analogous results for supercompact cardinals [Men76] and strong cardinals [FH08], there is no requirement that the function $F$ be locally definable.
We analyze the hereditarily ordinal definable sets $\operatorname{HOD}$ in $M_n(x)[g]$ for a Turing cone of reals $x$, where $M_n(x)$ is the canonical inner model with $n$ Woodin cardinals build over $x$ and $g$ is generic over $M_n(x)$ for the Lévy collapse up to its bottom inaccessible cardinal. We prove that assuming $\boldsymbolΠ^1_{n+2}$-determinacy, for a Turing cone of reals $x$, $\operatorname{HOD}^{M_n(x)[g]} = M_n(\mathcal{M}_{\infty} | κ_\infty, Λ),$ where $\mathcal{M}_\infty$ is a direct limit of iterates of $M_{n+1}$, $δ_\infty$ is the least Woodin cardinal in $\mathcal{M}_\infty$…
The study of inner models was initiated by Gödel's analysis of the constructible universe. Later, the study of canonical inner models with large cardinals, e.g., measurable cardinals, strong cardinals or Woodin cardinals, was pioneered by Jensen, Mitchell, Steel, and others. Around the same time, the study of infinite two-player games was driven forward by Martin's proof of analytic determinacy from a measurable cardinal, Borel determinacy from ZFC, and Martin and Steel's proof of levels of projective determinacy from Woodin cardinals with a measurable cardinal on top. First Woodin and later N…
Let GCH hold and let $j:V\longrightarrow M$ be a definable elementary embedding such that $crit(j)=κ$, $^κM\subseteq M$ and $κ^{++}=κ_{M}^{++}$. H. Woodin proved that there is a cofinality preserving generic extension in which $κ$ is measurable and GCH fails at it. This is done by using an Easton support iteration of Cohen forcings for blowing the power of every inaccessible $α\leqκ$ to $α^{++}$, and then adding another forcing on top of that. We show that it is enough to use the iterated forcing, and that the latter forcing is not needed. We will show this not only for the case where $κ^{++}=…
This paper explores several topics related to Woodin's HOD conjecture. We improve the large cardinal hypothesis of Woodin's HOD dichotomy theorem from an extendible cardinal to a strongly compact cardinal. We show that assuming there is a strongly compact cardinal and the HOD hypothesis holds, there is no elementary embedding from HOD to HOD, settling a question of Woodin. We show that the HOD hypothesis is equivalent to a uniqueness property of elementary embeddings of levels of the cumulative hierarchy. We prove that the HOD hypothesis holds if and only if every regular cardinal above the fi…
We prove the following result which is due to the third author. Let $n \geq 1$. If $\boldsymbolΠ^1_n$ determinacy and $Π^1_{n+1}$ determinacy both hold true and there is no $\boldsymbolΣ^1_{n+2}$-definable $ω_1$-sequence of pairwise distinct reals, then $M_n^\#$ exists and is $ω_1$-iterable. The proof yields that $\boldsymbolΠ^1_{n+1}$ determinacy implies that $M_n^\#(x)$ exists and is $ω_1$-iterable for all reals $x$. A consequence is the Determinacy Transfer Theorem for arbitrary $n \geq 1$, namely the statement that $\boldsymbolΠ^1_{n+1}$ determinacy implies $\Game^{(n)}(<ω^2 - \boldsymbolΠ…
We show that every Jonsson cardinal is Ramsey in the Steel core model, provided that this model exists and there is no model with a Woodin cardinal. This basic result is improved in two directions. First, we prove the same result for delta-Jonsson and delta-Erdos cardinals, where delta is any regular cardinal smaller than kappa. These notions correspond to Jonsson and Erdos cardinals, except that the submodel or set of indiscernibles is only required to have ordertype delta. The delta-Jonsson cardinals come up in the stationary tower forcing. Second, we weaken the assumption that the Steel cor…
Assuming the existence of a certain hod pair with a Woodin cardinal that is a limit of Woodin cardinals, we show that the Chang model satisfies $\mathsf{AD}^+$ in any set generic extensions.
I analyze the hierarchy of large cardinals between a supercompact cardinal and an almost-huge cardinal. Many of these cardinals are defined by modifying the definition of a high-jump cardinal. A high-jump cardinal is defined as the critical point of an elementary embedding $j: V \to M$ such that $M$ is closed under sequences of length $\sup\set{j(f)(κ) \st f: κ\to κ}$. Some of the other cardinals analyzed include the super-high-jump cardinals, almost-high-jump cardinals, Shelah-for-supercompactness cardinals, Woodin-for-supercompactness cardinals, \Vopenka\ cardinals, hypercompact cardinals, a…
We prove the following two results. Theorem A: Let alpha be a limit ordinal. Suppose that 2^{|alpha|}<aleph_alpha and 2^{|alpha|^+}<aleph_{|alpha|^+}, whereas aleph_alpha^{|alpha|}>aleph_{|alpha|^+}. Then for all n< omega and for all bounded X subset aleph_{|alpha|^+}, M_n^#(X) exists. Theorem B: Let kappa be a singular cardinal of uncountable cofinality. If {alpha<kappa| 2^alpha=alpha^+} is stationary as well as co-stationary then for all n< omega and for all bounded X subset kappa, M_n^#(X) exists. Theorem A answers a question of Gitik and Mitchell, and Theorem B yields a lower bound for an …
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 $\GCH$…
Woodin has shown that if there is a measurable Woodin cardinal then there is, in an appropriate sense, a sharp for the Chang model. We produce, in a weaker sense, a sharp for the Chang model using only the existence of a cardinal $κ$ having an extender of length $κ^{+ω_1}$.
We study $Σ_1(ω_1)$-definable sets (i.e. sets that are equal to the collection of all sets satisfying a certain $Σ_1$-formula with parameter $ω_1$) in the presence of large cardinals. Our results show that the existence of a Woodin cardinal and a measurable cardinal above it imply that no well-ordering of the reals is $Σ_1(ω_1)$-definable, the set of all stationary subsets of $ω_1$ is not $Σ_1(ω_1)$-definable and the complement of every $Σ_1(ω_1)$-definable Bernstein subset of ${}^{ω_1}ω_1$ is not $Σ_1(ω_1)$-definable. In contrast, we show that the existence of a Woodin cardinal is compatible …
We determine the consistency strength of determinacy for projective games of length $ω^2$. Our main theorem is that $\boldsymbolΠ^1_{n+1}$-determinacy for games of length $ω^2$ implies the existence of a model of set theory with $ω+ n$ Woodin cardinals. In a first step, we show that this hypothesis implies that there is a countable set of reals $A$ such that $M_n(A)$, the canonical inner model for $n$ Woodin cardinals constructed over $A$, satisfies $A = \mathbb{R}$ and the Axiom of Determinacy. Then we argue how to obtain a model with $ω+ n$ Woodin cardinal from this. We also show how the pro…
Assuming that there is no inner model with a Woodin cardinal, we obtain a characterization of $λ$-tall cardinals in extender models that are iterable. In particular we prove that in such extender models, a cardinal $κ$ is a tall cardinal if and only if it is either a strong cardinal or a measurable limit of strong cardinals.
If kappa is any strongly unfoldable cardinal, then this is preserved in a forcing extension in which Diamond_kappa(REG) fails. This result continues the progression of the corresponding results for weakly compact cardinals, due to Woodin, and for indescribable cardinals, due to Hauser.
We prove in the theory "ZFC + there is no inner model with a Woodin cardinal" that there is a universal weasel. This shows in particular that one doesn't have to assume the existence of large cardinals in V to prove the existence of some such weasel.
Let kappa be the least ordinal alpha such that L_{alpha}(R) is admissible. Let A be the set of reals x such that x is ordinal definable in L_α(R), for some alpha<kappa. It is well known that (assuming determinacy) A is the largest countable inductive set of reals. Let T be the following theory: ZFC - Replacement + "There exists $ω$ Woodin cardinals which are cofinal in the ordinals." T has consistency strength weaker than that of the theory ZFC + "There exists omega Woodin cardinals", but stronger than that of the theory ZFC + "There exists n Woodin Cardinals", for each n. Let M be the canonic…
W.H. Woodin showed that if $κ_1 < \cdots < κ_n$ are strong cardinals then two-step ${\bfΣ}^1_{n+3}$ generic absoluteness holds after collapsing $2^{2^{κ_n}}$ to be countable. We show that this number can be reduced to $2^{κ_n}$, and to $κ_n^+$ in the case $n = 1$, but cannot be further reduced to $κ_n$.
We show that if the universe is self-iterable and $κ$ is an inaccessible limit of Woodin cardinal then $AD_R + "Θ$ is regular" holds in the derived model at $κ$. The proof is fine-structure free, and only assumes basic knowledge of iteration trees and iteration strategies. Our proof can be viewed as the fine-structure free version of the well-known fact that $AD_R + "Θ$ is regular" is true in the derived models of hod mice that have inaccessible limit of Woodin cardinals (see for example [6]). However, the proof uses a different set of ideas and is more general.
We show that under the assumption of the existence of the canonical inner model with one Woodin cardinal $M_1$, there is a model of $\ZFC$ in which $\NS$ is $\aleph_2$-saturated and $Δ_1$-definable with $ω_1$ as a parameter which answers a question of Sy-David Friedman and Liuzhen Wu. We also show that starting from an arbitrary universe with a Woodin cardinal, there is a model with $\NS$ saturated and $Δ_1$-definable with a ladder system $\vec{C}$ and a full Suslin tree $T$ as parameters. Both results rely on a new coding technique whose presentation is the main goal of this article.
We describe an obstacle to the analysis of $\mathrm{HOD}^{L[x]}$ as a core model: Assuming sufficient large cardinals, for a Turing cone of reals $x$ there are premice $M,N$ in $\mathrm{HC}^{L[x]}$ such that the pseudo-comparison of $L[M]$ with $L[N]$ succeeds, is computed in $L[x]$, and lasts through $ω_1^{L[x]}$ stages. Moreover, we can take $M=M_1|(δ^+)^{M_1}$ where $M_1$ is the minimal iterable proper class inner model with a Woodin cardinal, and $δ$ is that Woodin. We can take $N$ such that $L[N]$ is $M_1$-like and short-tree-iterable.
We show that the following two theories are equiconsistent: (T) ZFC, CH and "There is a dense ideal on the first uncountable cardinal such that if j is the generic embedding associated with it then its restriction on ordinals is independent of the generic object is". (S) ZF, ADR and "Theta is a regular cardinal." The main result of this paper is that T implies that the minimal model of S exists. Woodin, in unpublished work, showed that the consistency of S implies the consistency of T. We will also give a proof of this result, which, together with our main theorem, establishes the equiconsiste…
Given a cardinal $κ$ that is $λ$-supercompact for some regular cardinal $λ\geqκ$ and assuming $\GCH$, we show that one can force the continuum function to agree with any function $F:[κ,λ]\cap\REG\to\CARD$ satisfying $\forallα,β\in\dom(F)$ $α<\cf(F(α))$ and $α<β$ $\implies$ $F(α)\leq F(β)$, while preserving the $λ$-supercompactness of $κ$ from a hypothesis that is of the weakest possible consistency strength, namely, from the hypothesis that there is an elementary embedding $j:V\to M$ with critical point $κ$ such that $M^λ\subseteq M$ and $j(κ)>F(λ)$. Our argument extends Woodin's technique of …
Generalizing some earlier techniques due to the second author, we show that Menas' theorem which states that the least cardinal kappa which is a measurable limit of supercompact or strongly compact cardinals is strongly compact but not 2^kappa supercompact is best possible. Using these same techniques, we also extend and give a new proof of a theorem of Woodin and extend and give a new proof of an unpublished theorem due to the first author.
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…
