Abstract We give a level-by-level analysis of the Weak Vopěnka Principle for definable classes of relational structures ( $\mathrm {WVP}$ ), in accordance with the complexity of their definition, and we determine the large-cardinal strength of each level. Thus, in particular, we show that $\mathrm {WVP}$ for $\Sigma _2$ -definable classes is equivalent to the existence of a strong cardinal. The main theorem (Theorem 5.11) shows, more generally, that $\mathrm {WVP}$ for $\Sigma _n$ -definable classes is equivalent to the existence of a $\Sigma _n$ -strong cardinal (Definition 5.1). Hence, $\mathrm {WVP}$ is equivalent to the existence of a $\Sigma _n$ -strong cardinal for all $n<\omega $ .

Abstract 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 virtually Shelah for supercompactness (VSS). These cardinals resemble Shelah cardinals and Shelah-for-supercompactness cardinals but are much weaker: if $0^\sharp $ exists then every Silver indiscernible is VSS in L. We also show that the statement $\operatorname {\mathrm {uB}} = {\boldsymbol {\Delta }}^1_2$ , where $\operatorname {\mathrm {uB}}$ is the pointclass of all universally Baire sets of reals, is equiconsistent modulo ZFC with the existence of a $\Sigma _2$ -reflecting VSS cardinal.

Abstract We consider a weak version of Schindler’s remarkable cardinals that may fail to be ${{\rm{\Sigma }}_2}$ -reflecting. We show that the ${{\rm{\Sigma }}_2}$ -reflecting weakly remarkable cardinals are exactly the remarkable cardinals, and that the existence of a non- ${{\rm{\Sigma }}_2}$ -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 ${{\rm{\Delta }}_2}$ -Mahlo” and ${\text{gVP}}(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\thicksim}$}}{\Pi } _1 )$ + “there is no proper class of remarkable cardinals” are both equiconsistent with the existence of a proper class of ω-Erdős cardinals, extending results of Bagaria, Gitman, Hamkins, and Schindler.

Abstract We prove several equivalences and relative consistency results regarding generic absoluteness beyond Woodin’s ${\left( {{\bf{\Sigma }}_1^2} \right)^{{\rm{u}}{{\rm{B}}_\lambda }}}$ generic absoluteness result for a limit of Woodin cardinals λ. In particular, we prove that two-step $\exists ^ℝ \left( {{\rm{\Pi }}_1^2 } \right)^{{\rm{uB}}_\lambda } $ generic absoluteness below a measurable limit of Woodin cardinals has high consistency strength and is equivalent, modulo small forcing, to the existence of trees for ${\left( {{\bf{\Pi }}_1^2} \right)^{{\rm{u}}{{\rm{B}}_\lambda }}}$ formulas. The construction of these trees uses a general method for building an absolute complement for a given tree T assuming many “failures of covering” for the models $L\left( {T,{V_\alpha }} \right)$ for α below a measurable cardinal.

Abstract In 1924 Banach and Tarski demonstrated the existence of a paradoxical decomposition of the 3-ball B, i.e., a piecewise isometry from B onto two copies of B. This article answers a question of de Groot from 1958 by showing that there is a paradoxical decomposition of B in which the pieces move continuously while remaining disjoint to yield two copies of B. More generally, we show that if n > 2, any two bounded sets in Rn that are equidecomposable with proper isometries are continuously equidecomposable in this sense.