Connor Watson

About

I received my B.S. and M.S. in Mathematics from Florida Atlantic University, completing my master's thesis, “The Consistency Strength of the Generalized Continuum Hypothesis Failing at a Measurable Cardinal,” in May 2025 under the supervision of Dr. Robert Lubarsky. Dr. James Cummings was on my thesis committee, and acted as my secondary mentor through this process and beyond.

My primary research interest is descriptive inner model theory. I am also interested in forcing and large cardinals, especially Prikry-type forcings, the tree property, cardinal arithmetic, and related topics. I am particularly drawn to the unexplored territory between modern descriptive inner model theory and the more combinatorial side of set theory, and hope to develop connections between these areas. I am additionally interested in neostability theory.

I lived in Pittsburgh from 2022 to 2026, where I worked with James Cummings on extender-based Prikry forcings, as well as with Douglas Blue on various topics in descriptive inner model theory. I have since moved to Chicago, where I am continuing this work with them virtually.

You can see my CV here.

Papers

  1. The Cone Fixing the Reals of $\mathrm{HOD}^{M_{2n}(x)}$ With Farmer Schlutzenberg, 2026 | arXiv
  2. Indiscernible Extraction in Theories with Bounded $k$-splitting 2026 | Submitted for publication | arXiv
  3. A Formula for Any Real Number, Maybe With James E. Hanson, 2026 | Submitted for publication | arXiv
  4. Existence of a Model of $o(\kappa)=\kappa^{++}$ from Failure of GCH at a Measurable Cardinal 2024 | arXiv

Invited Talks

  • AMS Central Sectional Meeting October 2026 Indiscernible Extraction in Theories with Bounded $k$-splitting
  • UIC Logic Seminar September 2026 A $HOD$ Characterization of the Reals of $M_{2n+1}$
  • Iowa Colloquium on Information, Complexity, and Logic (ICICL) May 2026 A Formula for Any Real Number, Maybe
  • Iowa State University Logic Seminar March 2026 A Formula for Any Real Number, Maybe

Contributed Talks