Related papers: Nonlinearity and illfoundedness in the hierarchy o…
The purpose of this paper is to provide an introductory overview of the large cardinal hierarchy in set theory. By a large cardinal, we mean any cardinal $\kappa$ whose existence is strong enough of an assumption to prove the consistency of…
This paper develops a rich theory of cardinality in the paraconsistent and paracomplete set theory $\mathrm{BZFC}$, where sets can be inconsistent ($A$ such that ``$x\in A$'' is both true and false for some $x$) or incomplete ($A$ such that…
This paper contributes to the theory of large cardinals beyond the Kunen inconsistency, or choiceless large cardinal axioms, in the context where the Axiom of Choice is not assumed. The first part of the paper investigates a periodicity…
Our theme is that not every interesting question in set theory is independent of $ZFC$. We give an example of a first order theory $T$ with countable $D(T)$ which cannot have a universal model at $\aleph_1$ without CH; we prove in $ZFC$ a…
It is argued that the occurrence of disproportionately ("un-natural") large (or small) numbers, as well as deep cancellations, are comparatively natural traits of the way Nature is geared to operate in most complex systems. The idea is…
Large cardinals arising from the existence of arbitrarily long end elementary extension chains over models of set theory are studied here. In particular, we show that the large cardinals obtained that way (`Unfoldable cardinals') behave as…
It is a well-known empirical phenomenon that natural axiomatic theories are pre-well-ordered by consistency strength. Without a precise mathematical definition of "natural," it is unclear how to study this phenomenon mathematically. We will…
While many inner model theoretic combinatorial principles are incompatible with large cardinal axioms, on some rare occasions, large cardinals actually imply that the structure of the universe of sets is analogous to the canonical inner…
This paper exposes a contradiction in the Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice (ZFC). While Godel's incompleteness theorems state that a consistent system cannot prove its consistency, they do not eliminate proofs using a…
Under large cardinal hypotheses beyond the Kunen inconsistency -- hypotheses so strong as to contradict the Axiom of Choice -- we solve several variants of the generalized continuum problem and identify structural features of the levels…
Inspired by Zermelo's quasi-categoricity result characterizing the models of second-order Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory $\text{ZFC}_2$, we investigate when those models are fully categorical, characterized by the addition to $\text{ZFC}_2$…
The Axiom of Full Reflection at a measurable cardinal has been conjectured to be equiconsitent with the existence of a coherent sequence of measures with a repeat point. However we prove that the Axiom of Full Reflection at a measurable…
In this paper, we consider certain cardinals in ZF (set theory without AC, the Axiom of Choice). In ZFC (set theory with AC), given any cardinals C and D, either C <= D or D <= C. However, in ZF this is no longer so. For a given infinite…
This paper introduces the seed order, a partial order of the class of uniform countably complete ultrafilters that generalizes the Mitchell order on normal measures. Like that order, the seed order is consistently a linear ordering even…
We study the consistency and consistency strength of various configurations concerning the cardinal characteristics $\mathfrak{s}_\theta,\mathfrak{p}_\theta,\mathfrak{g}_\theta,\mathfrak{r}_\theta,\mathfrak{t}_\theta$ at uncountable regular…
The work presents the brief exposition of the proof (in ZF) of inaccessible cardinals nonexistence. To this end in view there is used the apparatus of subinaccessible cardinals and its basic tools -- reduced formula spectra and matrices and…
We unveil new patterns of Structural Reflection in the large-cardinal hierarchy below the first measurable cardinal. Namely, we give two different characterizations of strongly unfoldable and subtle cardinals in terms of a weak form of the…
We show that many large cardinal notions up to measurability can be characterized through the existence of certain filters for small models of set theory. This correspondence will allow us to obtain a canonical way in which to assign ideals…
We introduce combinatorial principles that characterize strong compactness and supercompactness for inaccessible cardinals but also make sense for successor cardinals. Their consistency is established from what is supposedly optimal.…
A property of a filter, a kind of large cardinal property, suffices for the proof in Liu Shelah [LiSh:484] and is proved consistent as required there. A natural property which looks better, not only is not obtained here, but is shown to be…