Inset theory,Ω-logic is aninfinitary logic anddeductive system proposed byW. Hugh Woodin (1999) as part of an attempt to generalize the theory ofdeterminacy ofpointclasses to coverthe structure${\displaystyle H_{{\mathrm{\aleph }}_2}}$. Just as theaxiom of projective determinacy yields a canonical theory of${\displaystyle H_{{\mathrm{\aleph }}_1}}$, he sought to find axioms that would give a canonical theory for the larger structure. The theory he developed involves a controversial argument that thecontinuum hypothesis is false.

Woodin'sΩ-conjecture asserts that if there is a proper class ofWoodin cardinals (for technical reasons, most results in the theory are most easily stated under this assumption), then Ω-logic satisfies an analogue of thecompleteness theorem. From this conjecture, it can be shown that, if there is any single axiom which is comprehensive over${\displaystyle H_{{\mathrm{\aleph }}_2}}$ (in Ω-logic), it must imply that the continuum is not${\displaystyle {\mathrm{\aleph }}_1}$. Woodin also isolated a specific axiom, a variation ofMartin's maximum, which states that any Ω-consistent${\displaystyle {\mathrm{\Pi }}_2}$ (over${\displaystyle H_{{\mathrm{\aleph }}_2}}$) sentence is true; this axiom implies that the continuum is${\displaystyle {\mathrm{\aleph }}_2}$.

Woodin also related his Ω-conjecture to a proposed abstract definition of large cardinals: he took a "large cardinal property" to be a${\displaystyle {\mathrm{\Sigma }}_2}$ property${\displaystyle P(\alpha )}$ of ordinals which implies that α is astrong inaccessible, and which is invariant under forcing by sets of cardinal less than α. Then the Ω-conjecture implies that if there are arbitrarily large models containing a large cardinal, this fact will be provable in Ω-logic.

The theory involves a definition ofΩ-validity: a statement is an Ω-valid consequence of a set theoryT if it holds in every model ofT having the form${\displaystyle V_{\alpha }^{\mathbb{B}}}$ for some ordinal${\displaystyle \alpha }$ and some forcing notion${\displaystyle \mathbb{B}}$. This notion is clearly preserved under forcing, and in the presence of a proper class of Woodin cardinals it will also be invariant under forcing (in other words, Ω-satisfiability is preserved under forcing as well). There is also a notion ofΩ-provability;^[1] here the "proofs" consist ofuniversally Baire sets and are checked by verifying that for every countable transitive model of the theory, and every forcing notion in the model, the generic extension of the model (as calculated inV) contains the "proof", restricted its own reals. For a proof-setA the condition to be checked here is called "A-closed". A complexity measure can be given on the proofs by their ranks in theWadge hierarchy. Woodin showed that this notion of "provability" implies Ω-validity for sentences which are${\displaystyle {\mathrm{\Pi }}_2}$ overV. The Ω-conjecture states that the converse of this result also holds. In all currently knowncore models, it is known to be true; moreover the consistency strength of the large cardinals corresponds to the least proof-rank required to "prove" the existence of the cardinals.

• Bagaria, Joan; Castells, Neus; Larson, Paul (2006), "An Ω-logic primer",Set theory(PDF), Trends Math., Basel, Boston, Berlin: Birkhäuser, pp. 1–28,doi:10.1007/3-7643-7692-9_1,ISBN 978-3-7643-7691-8,MR 2267144
• Koellner, Peter (2013),"The Continuum Hypothesis",The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (Ed.)
• Woodin, W. Hugh (1999),The Axiom of Determinacy, Forcing Axioms, and the Nonstationary Ideal, Walter de Gruyter,doi:10.1515/9783110804737,ISBN 3-11-015708-X,MR 1713438
• Woodin, W. Hugh (2001),"The continuum hypothesis. I"(PDF),Notices of the American Mathematical Society,48 (6):567–576,ISSN 0002-9920,MR 1834351
• Woodin, W. Hugh (2001b),"The Continuum Hypothesis, Part II"(PDF),Notices of the AMS,48 (7):681–690
• Woodin, W. Hugh (2005), "The continuum hypothesis", in Cori, Rene;Razborov, Alexander;Todorčević, Stevo; et al. (eds.),Logic Colloquium 2000, Lect. Notes Log., vol. 19, Urbana, IL: Assoc. Symbol. Logic, pp. 143–197,MR 2143878

• W. H. Woodin,Slides for 3 talks

• Set theory
• Systems of formal logic

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