Covering theorems for the core model, and an application to stationary set reflection (Q732054)

The bulk of this paper is devoted to the proof of its main result: a covering theorem for the core model~\(K\) below the sharp for a strong cardinal. If \(\gamma>\omega_2\) is regular in~\(K\) but \(\text{cf}^V\gamma<|\gamma|^V\) then \(\gamma\)~is measurable in~\(K\). The paper ends with applications to stationary set reflection: Mahlo cardinals suffice for the consistency of unqualified reflection but to get stationary subsets of \(\{\alpha\in\omega_3:\text{cf}\,\, \alpha=\omega\}\) to reflect at ordinals of cofinality~\(\omega_1\) requires larger cardinals than Mahlo to exist in~\(K\).