On the optimality of the HOD dichotomy

Abstract: In the first part of the manuscript, we establish several consistency results concerning Woodin's $\HOD$ hypothesis and large cardinals around the level of extendibility. First, we prove that the first extendible cardinal can be the first strongly compact in HOD. We extend a former result of Woodin by showing that under the HOD hypothesis the first extendible cardinal is $C^{(1)}$-supercompact in HOD. We also show that the first cardinal-correct extendible may not be extendible, thus answering a question by Gitman and Osinski \cite[\S9]{GitOsi}. In the second part of the manuscript, we discuss the extent to which weak covering can fail below the first supercompact cardinal $\delta$ in a context where the HOD hypothesis holds. Answering a question of Cummings et al. \cite{CumFriGol}, we show that under the $\HOD$ hypothesis there are many singulars $\kappa<\delta$ where $\cf^{\HOD}(\kappa)=\cf(\kappa)$ and $\kappa^{+\HOD}=\kappa^{+}.$ In contrast, we also show that the $\HOD$ hypothesis is consistent with $\delta$ carrying a club of $\HOD$-regulars cardinals $\kappa$ such that $\kappa^{+\HOD}<\kappa^{+}$. Finally, we close the manuscript with a discussion about the $\HOD$ hypothesis and $\omega$-strong measurability.