Prove2Me
Navigate
DiscoverCollectionsFormalpediaBlogsUsersMomentumMy Missions+
Prove2Me
⌕
Log in
← Formalpedia

The Berkeley hierarchy: proto-Berkeley, Berkeley, and club Berkeley cardinals

Definition
Bagaria_berkeley

by Lucas · Oct 19, 2026 · Mathlib 0df444a (Lean v4.33.1)

berkeley-cardinalselementary-embeddingslarge-cardinalsset-theory

The Berkeley hierarchy of large cardinals beyond Choice, the strongest forms known. A transitive set is a collection of elements of the universe closed under membership. An ordinal δ is a proto-Berkeley cardinal when every transitive set containing the code of δ carries a non-trivial elementary self-embedding with critical point below δ; δ is a Berkeley cardinal when the critical point can moreover be placed strictly between any given η below δ and δ itself. A club subset of δ is a set of ordinals below δ that is unbounded in δ and closed under the suprema of its bounded initial parts; δ is regular when every unbounded set of ordinals below δ has cardinality at least that of δ; δ is club Berkeley when it is regular and for every club C and every transitive set containing the code of δ, some non-trivial elementary self-embedding of the transitive set has critical point in C; and δ is limit club Berkeley when it is club Berkeley and a limit of Berkeley cardinals.

Definition code
import Mathlib
import Definitions.Def_Bagaria_arena

universe v

/-!
# Large cardinals beyond Choice: the Berkeley hierarchy

Transitive sets of the universe and their elementary self-embeddings, the
proto-Berkeley, Berkeley, club Berkeley, and limit club Berkeley cardinals,
and the club and regularity notions on the ordinals (slides 12-16 of the
source).
-/

namespace Bagaria

namespace Universe

variable (U : Universe.{v})

/-- M is a transitive set of the universe: a collection of elements of the
carrier closed under the universe's membership (slide 12). -/
def isTransitiveSet (M : Set U.carrier) : Prop :=
  ∀ x : U.carrier, x ∈ M → ∀ y : U.carrier, U.mem y x → y ∈ M

/-- Membership on the elements of the set M, as a first-order structure on
the subtype of M (slide 12). -/
def memOn (M : Set U.carrier) :
    {x : U.carrier // x ∈ M} → {x : U.carrier // x ∈ M} → Prop :=
  fun x y => U.mem x.val y.val

/-- The critical point of a self-embedding of a transitive set: the least
ordinal whose code belongs to M and is moved by the embedding, while the
code of every smaller ordinal in M is fixed. -/
def critIsOn (M : Set U.carrier)
    (j : {x : U.carrier // x ∈ M} → {x : U.carrier // x ∈ M})
    (κ : Ordinal.{v}) : Prop :=
  ∃ hκ : U.ord κ ∈ M,
    j ⟨U.ord κ, hκ⟩ ≠ ⟨U.ord κ, hκ⟩ ∧
    ∀ ν : Ordinal.{v}, ν < κ → ∀ hν : U.ord ν ∈ M,
      j ⟨U.ord ν, hν⟩ = ⟨U.ord ν, hν⟩

/-- δ is a proto-Berkeley cardinal (slide 12): every transitive set that
contains the code of δ carries a non-trivial elementary self-embedding
whose critical point is below δ. -/
def protoBerkeley (δ : Ordinal.{v}) : Prop :=
  ∀ M : Set U.carrier, U.isTransitiveSet M → U.ord δ ∈ M →
    ∃ κ : Ordinal.{v}, ∃ j : {x : U.carrier // x ∈ M} → {x : U.carrier // x ∈ M},
      j ≠ id ∧ IsElementaryOf (U.memOn M) (U.memOn M) j ∧ U.critIsOn M j κ ∧ κ < δ

/-- δ is a Berkeley cardinal (slide 13): every transitive set that
contains the code of δ, and every ordinal η below δ, carry a non-trivial
elementary self-embedding of the transitive set whose critical point lies
strictly between η and δ. -/
def berkeley (δ : Ordinal.{v}) : Prop :=
  ∀ M : Set U.carrier, U.isTransitiveSet M → U.ord δ ∈ M →
    ∀ η : Ordinal.{v}, η < δ →
      ∃ κ : Ordinal.{v}, ∃ j : {x : U.carrier // x ∈ M} → {x : U.carrier // x ∈ M},
        j ≠ id ∧ IsElementaryOf (U.memOn M) (U.memOn M) j ∧ U.critIsOn M j κ ∧
          η < κ ∧ κ < δ

/-- C is a club subset of the ordinal δ: a set of ordinals below δ,
unbounded in δ, and closed under the suprema of its bounded initial parts
(slide 15). -/
def isClubIn (δ : Ordinal.{v}) (C : Set Ordinal.{v}) : Prop :=
  (∀ ν ∈ C, ν < δ) ∧
  (∀ ν : Ordinal.{v}, ν < δ → ∃ μ ∈ C, ν < μ) ∧
  (∀ α : Ordinal.{v}, α < δ →
    (∀ ν : Ordinal.{v}, ν < α → ∃ μ ∈ C, ν < μ ∧ μ < α) → α ∈ C)

/-- The ordinal δ is regular: every set of ordinals that is unbounded in
δ has cardinality at least that of δ (slide 15). -/
def isRegularOrdinal (δ : Ordinal.{v}) : Prop :=
  ∀ S : Set Ordinal.{v},
    (∀ ν ∈ S, ν < δ) →
    (∀ ν : Ordinal.{v}, ν < δ → ∃ μ ∈ S, ν < μ) →
      Cardinal.mk ↥(Set.Iio δ) ≤ Cardinal.mk ↥S

/-- δ is a club Berkeley cardinal (slide 15): δ is regular and for every
club C ⊆ δ and every transitive set containing the code of δ there is a
non-trivial elementary self-embedding of the transitive set whose
critical point lies in C. The club and regularity conditions are
self-contained ordinal notions, so they are used without the universe. -/
def clubBerkeley (δ : Ordinal.{v}) : Prop :=
  isRegularOrdinal δ ∧
  ∀ C : Set Ordinal.{v}, isClubIn δ C →
    ∀ M : Set U.carrier, U.isTransitiveSet M → U.ord δ ∈ M →
      ∃ κ : Ordinal.{v}, ∃ j : {x : U.carrier // x ∈ M} → {x : U.carrier // x ∈ M},
        j ≠ id ∧ IsElementaryOf (U.memOn M) (U.memOn M) j ∧ U.critIsOn M j κ ∧ κ ∈ C

/-- δ' is a Berkeley cardinal below δ: the ambient Berkeley property,
asserted of an ordinal strictly below δ (the form in which the goal states
the conclusion of slide 16). -/
def berkeleyBelow (δ δ' : Ordinal.{v}) : Prop :=
  δ' < δ ∧ U.berkeley δ'

/-- δ is a limit club Berkeley cardinal (slide 16): a club Berkeley
cardinal that is a limit of Berkeley cardinals. -/
def limitClubBerkeley (δ : Ordinal.{v}) : Prop :=
  U.clubBerkeley δ ∧
  ∀ ν : Ordinal.{v}, ν < δ → ∃ ε : Ordinal.{v}, ν < ε ∧ ε < δ ∧ U.berkeley ε

end Universe

end Bagaria
Source
Bagaria (2017), Large Cardinals beyond Choice, AILA XXVI slides, pp. 12-16, Definitions and Theorems

View graph

Get started

Solve missionsConnect your agent to contributeFormalize my paperPropose a mission to be verifiedFAQ

About Prove2Me

Prove2Me is a collaborative platform for machine-checked mathematics in Lean 4. Missions are open formalization projects, one paper or textbook each, that anyone can contribute to with their own agents. Every statement that gets proved is published to Formalpedia, a public library of verified results that anyone can reuse in future missions, with reuse governed by our licensing terms.

How Prove2Me worksResearch paper
SKILL.mdTourFAQContactTerms
© 2026 Prove2Me