A homogeneous family of subsets over a given set is one with a very ``rich'' automorphism group. We prove the existence of a bi-universal element in the class of homogeneous families over a given infinite set and give an explicit construction of $2^\cont$ isomorphism types of homogeneous families over a countable set.
We consider the conjugacy problem for the automorphism groups of a number of countable homogeneous structures. In each case we find the precise complexity of the conjugacy relation in the sense of Borel reducibility.
We decide the Borel complexity of the conjugacy problem for automorphism groups of countable homogeneous digraphs. Many of the homogeneous digraphs, as well as several other homogeneous structures, have already been addressed in previous articles. In this article we complete the program, and establish a dichotomy theorem that this complexity is either the minimum or the maximum among relations which are classifiable by countable structures. We also discuss the possibility of extending our results beyond graphs to more general classes of countable homogeneous structures.
We give strengthened versions of the Herwig-Lascar and Hodkinson-Otto extension theorems for partial automorphisms of finite structures. Such strengthenings yield several combinatorial and group-theoretic consequences for homogeneous structures. For instance, we establish a coherent form of the extension property for partial automorphisms for certain Fraisse classes. We deduce from these results that the isometry group of the rational Urysohn space, the automorphism group of the Fraisse limit of any Fraisse class that is the class of all $\mathcal{F}$-free structures (in the Herwig--Lascar sen…
We apply results proved in [Li19] to the linear order expansions of non-trivial free homogeneous structures and the universal n-linear order for $n\geq 2$, and prove the simplicity of their automorphism groups.
We define a simple criterion for a homogeneous, complete metric structure $X$ that implies that the automorphism group $\mbox{Aut}(X)$ satisfies all the main consequences of the existence of ample generics: it has the small index property, the automatic continuity property, and uncountable cofinality for non-open subgroups. Then we verify it for the Urysohn space $\mbox{U}$, the Lebesgue probability measure algebra $\mbox{MALG}$, and the Hilbert space $\ell_2$, thus proving that $\mbox{Iso}(\mbox{U})$, $\mbox{Aut}(\mbox{MALG})$, $U(\ell_2)$, and $O(\ell_2)$ share these properties. We also form…
We show that for any countable homogeneous ordered graph $G$, the conjugacy problem for automorphisms of $G$ is Borel complete. In fact we establish that each such $G$ satisfies a strong extension property called ABAP, which implies that the isomorphism relation on substructures of $G$ is Borel reducible to the conjugacy relation on automorphisms of $G$.
We present three examples of countable homogeneous structures (also called Fraisse limits) whose automorphism groups are not universal, namely, fail to contain isomorphic copies of all automorphism groups of their substructures. Our first example is a particular case of a rather general construction on Fraisse classes, which we call diversification, leading to automorphism groups containing copies of all finite groups. Our second example is a special case of another general construction on Fraisse classes, the mixed sums, leading to a Fraisse class with all finite symmetric groups appearing as…
We generalise the result of Tent and Ziegler to homogeneous structures that have a stationary independence relation without the symmetry axiom. We apply our result to prove simplicity of the automorphism group of some asymmetric examples due to Cherlin.
We define the notions of a free fusion of structures and a weakly stationary independence relation. We apply these notions to prove simplicity for the automorphism groups of order and tournament expansions of homogeneous structures like the bounded Urysohn space, the random graph, and the random poset.
We study some amalgamation classes introduced by Cherlin and prove the simplicity of the automorphism groups of the Fra{\"ı}ss{é} limits of these classes. We employ the machinery of stationary independence relations used by Tent and Ziegler.
We construct a $\wedge$-homogeneous universal simple matroid of rank $3$, i.e. a countable simple rank~$3$ matroid $M_*$ which $\wedge$-embeds every finite simple rank $3$ matroid, and such that every isomorphism between finite $\wedge$-subgeometries of $M_*$ extends to an automorphism of $M_*$. We also construct a $\wedge$-homogeneous matroid $M_*(P)$ which is universal for the class of finite simple rank $3$ matroids omitting a given finite projective plane $P$. We then prove that these structures are not $\aleph_0$-categorical, they have the independence property, they admit a stationary in…
An infinite linearly ordered set (S,<=) is called doubly homogeneous if its automorphism group A(S) acts 2-transitively on it. We show that any group G arises as outer automorphism group G cong Out(A(S)) of the automorphism group A(S), for some doubly homogeneous chain (S,<=).
We show that the automorphism groups of countably categorical linear orders are extremely amenable. Using methods of Kechris, Pestov, and Todorcevic, we use this fact to derive a structural Ramsey theorem for certain families of finite ordered structures with finitely many partial equivalence relations with convex classes.
We call a bipartite graph {\it homogeneous} if every finite partial automorphism which respects left and right can be extended to a total automorphism. A $(κ,λ )$ bipartite graph is a bipartite graph with left side of size $κ$ and right side of size $λ$. We show, using a theorem of Hrushovski on finite graphs, that there is a homogeneous $({\aleph_0},2^{\aleph_0} )$ bipartite graph of girth 4 (thus answering negatively a question by Kupitz and Perles), and that depending on the underlying set theory all homogeneous $({\aleph_0},\aleph_1)$ bipartite graphs may be isomorphic, or there may be $2^…
In this paper, we compute universal minimal flows of groups of automorphisms of uncountable $ω$-homogeneous graphs, $K_n$-free graphs, hypergraphs, partially ordered sets, and their extensions with an $ω$-homogeneous ordering. We present an easy construction of such structures, expanding the jungle of extremely amenable groups.
Let "ex" be the cardinality of the smallest independent family of subsets of omega (independent means that all nontrivial Boolean combinations are infinite) which cannot be extended to a homogeneous independent family. "Homogeneous" means that every finite partial map (points to points, sets to sets) that is compatible with the family is induced by a permutation of omega. Despite its apparently ``complex'' (second order) definition, this cardinal is equal to a well-known ``simple'' cardinal invariant from Cichon's diagram.
We study topological properties of conjugacy classes in Polish groups, with emphasis on automorphism groups of homogeneous countable structures. We first consider the existence of dense conjugacy classes (the topological Rokhlin property). We then characterize when an automorphism group admits a comeager conjugacy class (answering a question of Truss) and apply this to show that the homeomorphism group of the Cantor space has a comeager conjugacy class (answering a question of Akin-Hurley-Kennedy). Finally, we study Polish groups that admit comeager conjugacy classes in any dimension (in which…
We prove that the automorphism group of a Fraïssé structure M equipped with a notion of stationary independence is universal for the class of automorphism groups of substructures of M. Furthermore, we show that this applies to certain homogeneous n-gons.
Tent and Ziegler proved that the automorphism group of the Urysohn sphere is simple and that the automorphism group of the Urysohn space is simple modulo bounded automorphisms. A key component of their proof is the definition of a stationary independence relation (SIR). In this paper we prove that the existence of a SIR satisfying some extra axioms is enough to prove simplicity of the automorphism group of a countable structure. The extra axioms are chosen with applications in mind, namely homogeneous structures which admit a "metric-like amalgamation", for example all primitive 3-constrained …
A $k$-uniform hypergraph $M$ is set-homogeneous if it is countable (possibly finite) and whenever two finite induced subhypergraphs $U,V$ are isomorphic there is $g\in Aut(M)$ with $U^g=V$; the hypergraph $M$ is said to be homogeneous if in addition every isomorphism between finite induced subhypergraphs extends to an automorphism. We give four examples of countably infinite set-homogeneous $k$-uniform hypergraphs which are not homogeneous (two with $k=3$, one with $k=4$, and one with $k=6$). Evidence is also given that these may be the only ones, up to complementation. For example, for $k=3$ …
We study density requirements on a given Banach space that guarantee the existence of subsymmetric basic sequences by extending Tsirelson's well-known space to larger index sets. We prove that for every cardinal $κ$ smaller than the first Mahlo cardinal there is a reflexive Banach space of density $κ$ without subsymmetric basic sequences. As for Tsirelson's space, our construction is based on the existence of a rich collection of homogeneous families on large index sets for which one can estimate the complexity on any given infinite set. This is used to describe detailedly the asymptotic struc…
Metrically homogeneous graphs are connected graphs which, when endowed with the path metric, are homogeneous as metric spaces. In this paper we introduce the concept of twisted automorphisms, a notion of isomorphism up to a permutation of the language. We find all permutations of the language which are associated with twisted automorphisms of metrically homogeneous graphs. For each non-trivial permutation of this type we also characterize the class of metrically homogeneous graphs which allow a twisted isomorphism associated with that permutation. The permutations we find are, remarkably, prec…
In the course of classifying the homogeneous permutations, Cameron introduced the viewpoint of permutations as structures in a language of two linear orders, and this structural viewpoint is taken up here. The majority of this thesis is concerned with Cameron's problem of classifying the homogeneous structures in a language of finitely many linear orders, which we call finite-dimensional permutation structures. Towards this problem, we present a construction that we conjecture produces all such structures. Some evidence for this conjecture is given, including the classification of the homogene…