An Introduction to Stability Theory

Book excerpt: This introductory treatment covers the basic concepts and machinery of stability theory. Lemmas, corollaries, proofs, and notes assist readers in working through and understanding the material and applications. Full of examples, theorems, propositions, and problems, it is suitable for graduate students in logic and mathematics, professional mathematicians, and computer scientists. Chapter 1 introduces the notions of definable type, heir, and coheir. A discussion of stability and order follows, along with definitions of forking that follow the approach of Lascar and Poizat, plus a consideration of forking and the definability of types. Subsequent chapters examine superstability, dividing and ranks, the relation between types and sets of indiscernibles, and further properties of stable theories. The text concludes with proofs of the theorems of Morley and Baldwin-Lachlan and an extension of dimension theory that incorporates orthogonality of types in addition to regular types.