Worldly cardinal

In mathematical set theory, a worldly cardinal is a cardinal κ such that the rank Vκ is a model of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory. A strong limit cardinal κ is worldly if and only if for every natural n, there are unboundedly many ordinals θ < κ such that Vθ ≺Σn Vκ.

Relationship to inaccessible cardinals

By Zermelo's categoricity theorem, every inaccessible cardinal is worldly. By Shepherdson's theorem, inaccessibility is equivalent to the stronger statement that (Vκ, Vκ+1) is a model of second order Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory. Being worldly and being inaccessible are not equivalent; in fact, the smallest worldly cardinal has countable cofinality and therefore is a singular cardinal.

The following are in strictly increasing order, where is the least inaccessible cardinal:

References

  1. ↑ Hamkins (2014).
  2. ↑ Kanamori (2003), Theorem 1.3, p. 19.
  3. ↑ Kanamori (2003), Lemma 6.1, p. 57.