We study some dynamical aspects of the action of automorphisms in model theory in particular in the presence of invariant measures. We give some characterizations for NIP theories in terms of dynamics of automorphisms and invariant measures for example in terms of compact systems, entropy and measure algebras. Moreover, we study the concept of symbolic representation for models. Amongst the results, we give some characterizations for dividing lines and combinatorial configurations such as independence property, order property and strictly order property in terms of symbolic representations.
In light of a gap found by Krupiński, we give a new proof of associativity for the Morley (or "nonforking") product of invariant measures in NIP theories.
A relevant thesis is that for the family of complete first order theories with NIP (i.e. without the independence property) there is a substantial theory, like the family of stable (and the family of simple) first order theories. We examine some properties.
This text is an introduction to the study of NIP (or dependent) theories. It is meant to serve two purposes. The first is to present various aspects of NIP theories and give the reader the background material needed to understand almost any paper on the subject. The second is to advertise the use of honest definitions, in particular in establishing basic results, such as the so-called shrinking of indiscernibles.
We study invariant types in NIP theories. Amongst other things: we prove a definable version of the (p,q)-theorem in theories of small or medium directionality; we construct a canonical retraction from the space of M-invariant types to that of M-finitely satisfiable types; we show some amalgamation results for invariant types and list a number of open questions.
For G a group definable in an NIP theory we prove that there is a smallest type-definable subgroup H of G such that the quotient G/H is stable. This generalizes the existence of G^00, the smallest type-definable subgroup of G of bounded index.
We prove a definable version of Matoušek's $(p,q)$-theorem in NIP theories. This answers a question of Chernikov and Simon. We also prove a uniform version. The proof builds on a proof of Boxall and Kestner who proved this theorem in the distal case, utilizing the notion of locally compressible types which appeared in the work of the author with Bays and Simon.
In this short note we show that if we add predicate for a dense complete indiscernible sequence in a dependent theory then the result is still dependent. This answers a question of Baldwin and Benedikt and implies that every unstable dependent theory has a dependent expansion interpreting linear order.
A theory $T$ is said to have exact saturation at a singular cardinal $κ$ if it has a $κ$-saturated model which is not $κ^{+}$-saturated. We show, under some set-theoretic assumptions, that any simple theory has exact saturation. Also, an NIP theory has exact saturation if and only if it is not distal. This gives a new characterization of distality.
We study one way in which stable phenomena can exist in an NIP theory. We start by defining a notion of 'pure instability' that we call 'distality' in which no such phenomenon occurs. O-minimal theories and the p-adics for example are distal. Next, we try to understand what happens when distality fails. Given a type p over a sufficiently saturated model, we extract, in some sense, the stable part of p and define a notion of stable-independence which is implied by non-forking and has bounded weight. As an application, we show that the expansion of a model by traces of externally definable sets …
Let T be an NIP L-theory and T' be an enrichment. We give a sufficient condition on T' for the underlying L-type of any definable (respectively invariant) type over a model of T' to be definable (respectively invariant) as an L-type. Besides, we generalise work of Simon and Starchenko on the density of definable types among non forking types to this relative setting. These results are then applied to Scanlon's model completion of valued differential fields.
We study the definable topological dynamics $(G(M), S_G(M))$ of a definable group acting on its type space, where $M$ is either an $o$-minimal structure or a $p$-adically closed field, and $G$ a definable amenable group. We focus on the problem raised by Neweslki of whether weakly generic types coincide with almost periodic types, showing that the answer is positive when $G$ has boundedly many global weakly generic types. We also give two "minimal counterexamples" where $G$ has unboundedly many global weakly generic types, extending the main results of "On minimal flows, definably amenable gro…
Let $T$ be a consistent o-minimal theory extending the theory of densely ordered groups and let $T'$ be a consistent theory. Then there is a complete theory $T^*$ extending $T$ such that $T$ is an open core of $T^*$, but every model of $T^*$ interprets a model of $T'$. If $T'$ is NIP, $T^*$ can be chosen to be NIP as well. From this we deduce the existence of an NIP expansion of the real field that has no distal expansion.
We study stable like behaviour in first order theories without the independence property. We introduce generically stable measures, give characterizatiions, and show their ubiquity. We also introduce generic compact domination. We also prove the approximate definability of arbitrary Borel probability measures on definable sets in the real and p-adic fields.
We generalize the Unstable Formula Theorem characterization of stable theories from \citep{sh78}: that a theory $T$ is stable just in case any infinite indiscernible sequence in a model of $T$ is an indiscernible set. We use a generalized form of indiscernibles from \citep{sh78}: in our notation, a sequence of parameters from an $L$-structure $M$, $(b_i : i \in I)$, indexed by an $L'$-structure $I$ is \emph{$L'$-generalized indiscernible in $M$} if qftp$^{L'}(\ov{i};I)$=qftp$^{L'}(\ov{j};I)$ implies tp$^L(\ov{b}_{\ov{i}}; M)$ = tp$^L(\ov{b}_{\ov{j}};M)$ for all same-length, finite $\ov{i}, \ov…
We prove that many properties and invariants of definable groups in NIP theories, such as definable amenability, G/G^{00}, etc., are preserved when passing to the theory of the Shelah expansion by externally definable sets, M^{ext}, of a model M. In the light of these results we continue the study of the "definable topological dynamics" of groups in NIP theories. In particular we prove the Ellis group conjecture relating the Ellis group to G/G^{00} in some new cases, including definably amenable groups in o-minimal structures.
We continue investigating the structure of externally definable sets in NIP theories and preservation of NIP after expanding by new predicates. Most importantly: types over finite sets are uniformly definable; over a model, a family of non-forking instances of a formula (with parameters ranging over a type-definable set) can be covered with finitely many invariant types; we give some criteria for the boundedness of an expansion by a new predicate in a distal theory; naming an arbitrary small indiscernible sequence preserves NIP, while naming a large one doesn't; there are models of NIP theorie…
Given a complete theory $T$ and a subset $Y \subseteq X^k$, we precisely determine the {\em worst case complexity}, with respect to further monadic expansions, of an expansion $(M,Y)$ by $Y$ of a model $M$ of $T$ with universe $X$. In particular, although by definition monadically stable/NIP theories are robust under arbitrary monadic expansions, we show that monadically NFCP (equivalently, mutually algebraic) theories are the largest class that is robust under anything beyond monadic expansions. We also exhibit a paradigmatic structure for the failure of each of monadic NFCP/stable/NIP and pr…
Building on Pierre Simon's notion of distality, we introduce distality rank as a property of first-order theories and give examples for each rank $m$ such that $1\leq m \leq ω$. For NIP theories, we show that distality rank is invariant under base change. We also define a generalization of type orthogonality called $m$-determinacy and show that theories of distality rank $m$ require certain products to be $m$-determined. Furthermore, for NIP theories, this behavior characterizes $m$-distality. If we narrow the scope to stable theories, we observe that $m$-distality can be characterized by the …
We study forking, Lascar strong types, Keisler measures and definable groups, under an assumption of $NIP$ (not the independence property), continuing aspects of math.LO/0607442. Among key results are: (i) if $p = tp(b/A)$ does not fork over $A$ then the Lascar strong type of $b$ over $A$ coincides with the compact strong type of $b$ over $A$ and any global nonforking extension of $p$ is Borel definable over $bdd(A)$ (ii) analogous statements for Keisler measures and definable groups, including the fact that $G^{000} = G^{00}$ for $G$ definably amenable, (iii) definitions, characterizations an…
There exist NIP and non-NTP$_2$ theories satisfying all the following conditions: It is not o-minimal; All models are strongly locally o-minimal; It has a model which is an expansion of the linearly ordered abelian group over the reals $(\mathbb R\;;\;0,+,<)$. We construct these examples using the notion of simple product.
This paper is a modified chapter of the author's Ph.D. thesis. We introduce the notions of sequentially approximated types and sequentially approximated Keisler measures. As the names imply, these are types which can be approximated by a sequence of realized types and measures which can be approximated by a sequence of `averaging measures' on tuples of realized types. We show that both generically stable types (in arbitrary theories) and Keisler measures which are finitely satisfiable over a countable model (in NIP theories) are sequentially approximated. We also introduce the notion of a smoo…
We develop local NIP group theory in the context of pseudofinite groups. In particular, given a sufficiently saturated pseudofinite structure $G$ expanding a group, and left invariant NIP formula $δ(x;\bar{y})$, we prove various aspects of "local fsg" for the right-stratified formula $δ^r(x;\bar{y},u):=δ(x\cdot u;\bar{y})$. This includes a $δ^r$-type-definable connected component, uniqueness of the pseudofinite counting measure as a left-invariant measure on $δ^r$-formulas, and generic compact domination for $δ^r$-definable sets.
We initiate a systematic study of the convolution operation on Keisler measures, generalizing the work of Newelski in the case of types. Adapting results of Glicksberg, we show that the supports of generically stable (or just definable, assuming NIP) measures are nice semigroups, and classify idempotent measures in stable groups as invariant measures on type-definable subgroups. We establish left-continuity of the convolution map in NIP theories, and use it to show that the convolution semigroup on finitely satisfiable measures is isomorphic to a particular Ellis semigroup in this context.
In NIP theories, generically stable Keisler measures can be characterized in several ways. We analyze these various forms of "generic stability" in arbitrary theories. Among other things, we show that the standard definition of generic stability for types coincides with the notion of a frequency interpretation measure. We also give combinatorial examples of types in NSOP theories that are finitely approximated but not generically stable, as well as $ϕ$-types in simple theories that are definable and finitely satisfiable in a small model, but not finitely approximated. Our proofs demonstrate in…
We discuss two constructions for obtaining generically stable Keisler measures in an NIP theory. First, we show how to symmetrize an arbitrary invariant measure to obtain a generically stable one from it. Next, we show that suitable sigma-additive probability measures give rise to generically stable measures. Also included is a proof that generically stable measures over o-minimal theories and the p-adics are smooth.
The notion of a complete type can be generalized in a natural manner to allow assigning a value in an arbitrary Boolean algebra B to each formula. We show some basic results regarding the effect of the properties of B on the behavior of such types, and show they are particularity well behaved in the case of NIP theories. In particular, we generalize the third author's result about counting types, as well as the notion of a smooth type and extending a type to a smooth one. We then show that Keisler measures are tied to certain Boolean types and show that some of the results can thus be transfer…
