Subcomplete forcing, trees and generic absoluteness

Abstract: We investigate properties of trees of height $\omega_1$ and their preservation under subcomplete forcing. We show that subcomplete forcing cannot add a new branch to an $\omega_1$-tree. We introduce fragments of subcompleteness which are preserved by subcomplete forcing, and use these in order to show that certain strong forms of rigidity of Suslin trees are preserved by subcomplete forcings. Finally, we explore under what circumstances subcomplete forcing preserves Aronszajn trees of height and width $\omega_1$. We show that this is the case if CH fails, and if CH holds, then this is the case iff the bounded subcomplete forcing axiom holds. Finally, we explore the relationships between bounded forcing axioms, preservation of Aronszajn trees of height and width $\omega_1$ and generic absoluteness of $\Sigma^1_1$-statements over first order structures of size $\omega_1$, also for other canonical classes of forcing.