The Ultrapower Axiom and the equivalence between strong compactness and supercompactness

Abstract

The relationship between the large cardinal notions of strong compactness and supercompactness cannot be determined under the standard ZFC axioms of set theory. Under a hypothesis called the Ultrapower Axiom, we prove that the notions are equivalent except for a class of counterexamples identified by Menas. This is evidence that strongly compact and supercompact cardinals are equiconsistent.