On the least strongly compact cardinal

We prove that under the assumption of a supercompact cardinal κ which is a limit of supercompact cardinals, for any increasing Σ₂ function φ the set {∂<κ:∂ is at least φ(∂) supercompact, is strongly compact, yet is not fully supercompact} is unbounded in κ. We then use ideas of Magidor to show that under the hypotheses of a supercompact cardinal which is a limit of supercompact cardinals it is consistent for the least strongly compact cardinal κ₀ to be at least φ(κ₀) supercompact yet not to be fully supercompact, where φ is again an increasing Σ₂ function which also meets certain other technical restrictions. The author wishes to thank Menachem Magidor for helpful conversations and suggestions in method which were used in the proof of Theorem 2.