On the indestructibility aspects of identity crisis (Q834713)

In this paper, the author investigates the indestructibility properties of strongly compact cardinals in universes where strong compactness suffers from identity crisis. The first main result is that it is consistent relative to \(n\) supercompact cardinals that the first \(n\) measurable cardinals \(\langle \kappa_i : i<n\rangle\) coincide with the first \(n\) strongly compact cardinals while the strong compactness of each \(\kappa_i\) is indestructible under \(\kappa_i\)-directed closed forcings that create only finitely many measurable cardinals and force GCH at each one of them. Another main result is that it is consistent relative to a proper class of supercompact cardinals that there is a proper class of strong cardinals, the class of strong cardinals coincides with the class of strongly compact cardinals, and strong compactness of any strongly compact cardinal \(\kappa\) is indestructible under \(\kappa\)-directed closed forcing notions that force GCH at \(\kappa\). These results are proved by using a technique, developed in this paper, to force the identity crisis phenomenon by using an iteration only (without product forcing).