On February 25, 2019 I was invited to give a talk in the Set Theory Seminar at Bar-Ilan University, Israel.

Projective determinacy for games of length $\omega^2$ and longer

Abstract: We will study infinite two player games and the large cardinal strength corresponding to their determinacy. For games of length $\omega$ this is well understood and there is a tight connection between the determinacy of projective games and the existence of canonical inner models with Woodin cardinals. For games of arbitrary countable length, Itay Neeman proved the determinacy of analytic games of length $\omega \cdot \theta$ for countable $\theta > \omega$ from a sharp for $\theta$ Woodin cardinals.

We aim for a converse at successor ordinals. In joint work with Juan P. Aguilera we showed that determinacy of $\boldsymbol\Pi^1_{n+1}$ games of length $\omega^2$ implies the existence of a premouse with $\omega+n$ Woodin cardinals. This generalizes to a premouse with $\omega+\omega$ Woodin cardinals from the determinacy of games of length $\omega^2$ with $\Game^{\mathbb{R}}\boldsymbol\Pi^1_1$ payoff.

If time allows, we will also sketch how these methods can be adapted to, in combination with results of Nam Trang, obtain $\omega^\alpha+n$ Woodin cardinals for countable ordinals $\alpha$ and natural numbers $n$ from the determinacy of sufficiently long projective games.