Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 March 2014
A truth for λ is a pair 〈Q, ψ〉 so that Q ⊆ Hλ, ψ is a first order formula with one free variable, and there exists B ⊆ Hλ+ such that (Hλ+; ∈, B) ⊨ ψ[Q]. A cardinal λ is , indescribable just in case that for every truth 〈Q, ψ〈 for λ, there exists < λ so that is a cardinal and 〈Q ∩ , ψ) is a truth for . More generally, an interval of cardinals [κ, λ] with κ ≤ λ is indescribable if for every truth 〈Q, ψ〈 for λ, there exists , and π: → Hλ so that is a cardinal, is a truth for , and π is elementary from () into (H; ∈, κ, Q) with id.
We prove that the restriction of the proper forcing axiom to ϲ-linked posets requires a indescribable cardinal in L, and that the restriction of the proper forcing axiom to ϲ+-linked posets, in a proper forcing extension of a fine structural model, requires a indescribable 1-gap [κ, κ+]. These results show that the respective forward directions obtained in Hierarchies of Forcing Axioms I by Neeman and Schimmerling are optimal.