Diagonal supercompact Radin forcing (Q2004953)

For several decades, a major open problem in set theory has been the question whether it is consistent that the tree property holds at every regular cardinal \(\kappa>\omega_1\). Results of \textit{E. Specker} [Colloq. Math. 2, 9--12 (1949; Zbl 0040.16703)] and \textit{R. B. Jensen} [Ann. Math. Logic 4, 229--308 (1972; Zbl 0257.02035)] show that, for this question to be answered positively, one would at a minimum need to obtain a model in which both GCH and the weak square principle \(\square^*_\mu\) fail everywhere. In fact, the failure of \(\square^*_\mu\) is equivalent to the nonexistence of special \(\mu^+\)-Aronszajn trees, but this would be a significant step towards the ultimate goal of eliminating all Aronszajn trees. It has turned out that the most difficult aspects of this problem involve the interaction between cardinal arithmetic at singular cardinals and the tree property (or other compactness properties) at their successor (and double successors). The reason for this essentially boils down to the fact that the failure of GCH or SCH is an anticompactness feature, while the tree property (or the failure of forms of \(\square\)) is a compactness property. In the present paper, the authors start from a supercompact cardinal \(\kappa\) with an inaccessible above and produce a forcing extension in which \(\kappa\) remains inaccessible and has a club of singular cardinals \(\nu\) at which both the singular cardinal hypothesis and \(\square^*_\nu\) fail. The fact that \(\kappa\) remains inaccessible is significant, since their extension can then be cut off at \(\kappa\) to produce a model with a proper class of singular cardinals with the stated properties. The main forcing utilized is an upgraded version of both the Gitik-Sharon forcing from [\textit{M. Gitik} and \textit{A. Sharon}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 136, No. 1, 311--320 (2008; Zbl 1140.03033)] and \textit{D. Sinapova}'s forcing from [J. Symb. Log. 73, No. 4, 1361--1372 (2008; Zbl 1156.03045)]. As a flavour of Radin forcing, it preserves the inaccessibility of \(\kappa\) while adding a club of newly singular strong limit cardinals at which SCH fails. Weak square does in fact hold at some of the points of this club, but the authors show that those points are quite sparse (their complement in \(\kappa\) is a fat stationary set), so a club avoiding them can be added without disrupting the remaining structure.