Abstract In the first part of the article, we show that if $\omega \le \kappa < \lambda$ are cardinals, ${\kappa ^{ < \kappa }} = \kappa$ , and λ is weakly compact, then in $V\left[M {\left( {\kappa ,\lambda } \right)} \right]$ the tree property at $$\lambda = \left( {\kappa ^{ + + } } \right)^{V\left[ {\left( {\kappa ,\lambda } \right)} \right]} $$ is indestructible under all ${\kappa ^ + }$ -cc forcing notions which live in $V\left[ {{\rm{Add}}\left( {\kappa ,\lambda } \right)} \right]$ , where ${\rm{Add}}\left( {\kappa ,\lambda } \right)$ is the Cohen forcing for adding λ-many subsets of κ and $\left( {\kappa ,\lambda } \right)$ is the standard Mitchell forcing for obtaining the tree property at $\lambda = \left( {\kappa ^{ + + } } \right)^{V\left[ {\left( {\kappa ,\lambda } \right)} \right]} $ . This result has direct applications to Prikry-type forcing notions and generalized cardinal invariants. In the second part, we assume that λ is supercompact and generalize the construction and obtain a model ${V^{\rm{*}}}$ , a generic extension of V, in which the tree property at ${\left( {{\kappa ^{ + + }}} \right)^{{V^{\rm{*}}}}}$ is indestructible under all ${\kappa ^ + }$ -cc forcing notions living in $V\left[ {{\rm{Add}}\left( {\kappa ,\lambda } \right)} \right]$ , and in addition under all forcing notions living in ${V^{\rm{*}}}$ which are ${\kappa ^ + }$ -closed and “liftable” in a prescribed sense (such as ${\kappa ^{ + + }}$ -directed closed forcings or well-met forcings which are ${\kappa ^{ + + }}$ -closed with the greatest lower bounds).

Abstract Let M be a transitive model of ZFC. We say that a transitive model of ZFC, N, is an outer model of M if M ⊆ N and ORD ∩ M = ORD ∩ N. The outer model theory of M is the collection of all formulas with parameters from M which hold in all outer models of M (which exist in a universe in which M is countable; this is independent of the choice of such a universe). Satisfaction defined with respect to outer models can be seen as a useful strengthening of first-order logic. Starting from an inaccessible cardinal κ, we show that it is consistent to have a transitive model M of ZFC of size κ in which the outer model theory is lightface definable, and moreover M satisfies V = HOD. The proof combines the infinitary logic L∞,ω, Barwise’s results on admissible sets, and a new forcing iteration of length strictly less than κ+ which manipulates the continuum function on certain regular cardinals below κ. In the appendix, we review some unpublished results of Mack Stanley which are directly related to our topic.