1 Introduction
In their seminal paper [Reference Friedman and Stanley1], Friedman and Stanley define and develop a notion of Borel reducibility among classes of structures with universe
$\omega $
in a fixed, countable language L that are Borel and invariant under permutations of
$\omega $
. It is well known (see, e.g., [Reference Kechris3] or [Reference Gao2]) that such classes are of the form
$\mathrm {Mod}(\Phi )$
, the set of models of
$\Phi $
whose universe is precisely
$\omega $
for some sentence
$\Phi \in L_{\omega _1,\omega }$
, but here we concentrate on first-order, countable theories T. For countable theories
$T,S$
in possibly different language, a Borel reduction is a Borel function
$f:\mathrm {Mod}(T)\rightarrow \mathrm {Mod}(S)$
that satisfies
$M\cong N$
if and only if
$f(M)\cong f(N)$
. One says that T is Borel reducible to S if there is a Borel reduction
$f:\mathrm {Mod}(T)\rightarrow \mathrm {Mod}(S)$
. As Borel reducibility is transitive, this induces a quasi-order on the class of all countable theories, where we say T and S are Borel equivalent if there are Borel reductions in both directions. In [Reference Friedman and Stanley1], Friedman and Stanley show that among Borel invariant classes (hence among countable first-order theories) there is a maximal class with respect to
$\le _B$
. We say
$\Phi $
is Borel complete if it is in this maximal class. Examples include the theories of graphs, linear orders, groups, and fields.
The intuition is that Borel complexity of a theory T is related to the complexity of invariants that describe the isomorphism types of countable models of T. Given an L-structure M, one naturally thinks of the reducts
$M_0$
of M to be ‘simpler objects’, hence the invariants for a reduct ‘should’ be no more complicated than for the original M, but we will see that this intuition is incorrect. As a paradigm, let T be the theory of ‘independent unary predicates’ i.e.,
$T=Th(2^\omega ,U_n)$
, where each
$U_n$
is a unary predicate interpreted as
$U_n=\{\eta \in 2^\omega :\eta (n)=1\}$
. The countable models of T are rather easy to describe. The isomorphism type of a model is specified by which countable, dense subset of ‘branches’ is realized, and how many elements realize each of those branches. However, with Theorem 3.2, we will see that T has a Borel complete reduct.
To be precise about reducts, we have the following definition.
Definition 1.1. Given an L-structure M, a reduct
$M'$
of M is an
$L'$
-structure with the same universe as M, and for which the interpretation in every atomic
$L'$
-formula
$\alpha (x_1,\dots ,x_k)$
is an L-definable subset of
$M^k$
(without parameters). An
$L'$
-theory
$T'$
is a reduct of an L-theory T if
$T'=Th(M')$
for some reduct
$M'$
of some model M of T.
In the above definition, it would be equivalent to require that the interpretation in
$M'$
of every
$L'$
-formula
$\theta (x_1,\dots ,x_k)$
is a 0-definable subset of
$M^k$
.
2 An engine for Borel completeness results
This section is devoted to proving Borel completeness for a specific family of theories. All of the theories
$T_h$
are in the same language
$L=\{E_n:n\in \omega \}$
and are indexed by strictly increasing functions
$h:\omega \rightarrow \omega \setminus \{0\}$
. For a specific choice of h, the theory
$T_h$
asserts that
-
• Each
$E_n$
is an equivalence relation with exactly
$h(n)$
classes; and -
• The
$E_n$
’s cross-cut, i.e., for all nonempty, finite
$F\subseteq \omega $
,
$E_F(x,y):=\bigwedge _{n\in F} E_n(x,y)$
is an equivalence relation with precisely
$\Pi _{n\in F} h(n)$
classes.
It is well known that each of these theories
$T_h$
is complete and admits elimination of quantifiers. Thus, in any model of
$T_h$
, there is a unique one-type. However, the strong type structure is complicated.Footnote
1
So much so, that the whole of this section is devoted to the proof of:
Theorem 2.1. For any strictly increasing
$h:\omega \rightarrow \omega \setminus \{0\}$
,
$T_h$
is Borel complete.
Proof Fix a strictly increasing function
$h:\omega \rightarrow \omega \setminus \{0\}$
. We begin by describing representatives
${\mathcal B}$
of the strong types and a group G that acts faithfully and transitively on
${\mathcal B}$
. As notation, for each n, let
$[h(n)]$
denote the
$h(n)$
-element set
$\{1,\dots ,h(n)\}$
and let
$\textit{Sym}([h(n])$
be the (finite) group of permutations of
$[h(n)]$
. Let
and let
$G=\Pi _{n\in \omega } \textit{Sym}([h(n)])$
be the direct product. As notation, for each
$n\in \omega $
, let
$\pi _n:G\rightarrow \textit{Sym}([h(n)])$
be the natural projection map. Note that G acts coordinate-wise on
${\mathcal B}$
by: For
$g\in G$
and
$f\in {\mathcal B}$
,
$g\cdot f$
is the element of
${\mathcal B}$
satisfying
$g\cdot f(n)=\pi _n(g)(f(n))$
.
Define an equivalence relation
$\sim $
on
${\mathcal B}$
by:
For
$f\in {\mathcal B}$
, let
$[f]$
denote the
$\sim $
-class of f and, abusing notation somewhat, for
$W\subseteq {\mathcal B}$
Observe that for every
$g\in G$
, the permutation of
${\mathcal B}$
induced by the action of g maps
$\sim $
-classes onto
$\sim $
-classes, i.e., G also acts transitively on
${\mathcal B}/{\sim}$
.
We first identify a countable family of
$\sim $
-classes that are ‘sufficiently indiscernible’. Our first lemma is where we use the fact that the function h defining
$T_h$
is strictly increasing.
Lemma 2.2. There is a countable set
$Y=\{f_i:i\in \omega \}\subseteq {\mathcal B}$
such that whenever
$i\neq j$
,
$\{n\in \omega : f_i(n)=f_j(n)\}$
is finite.
Proof We recursively construct Y in
$\omega $
steps. Suppose
$\{f_i:i<k\}$
have been chosen. Choose an integer N large enough so that
$h(N)>k$
(hence
$h(n)>k$
for all
$n\ge N$
). Now, construct
$f_k\in {\mathcal B}$
to satisfy
$f_k(n)\neq f_i(n)$
for all
$n\ge N$
and all
$i<k$
.
Fix an enumeration
$\langle f_i:i\in \omega \rangle $
of Y for the whole of the argument. The ‘indiscernibility’ of Y alluded to above is formalized by the following definition and lemma.
Definition 2.3. Given a permutation
$\sigma \in \textit{Sym}(\omega )$
, a group element
$g\in G$
respects
$\sigma $
if
$g\cdot [f_i]=[f_{\sigma (i)}]$
for every
$i\in \omega $
.
Lemma 2.4. For every permutation
$\sigma \in \textit{Sym}(\omega )$
, there is some
$g\in G$
respecting
$\sigma $
.
Proof Note that since h is increasing,
$h(n)\ge n$
for every
$n\in \omega $
. Fix a permutation
$\sigma \in \textit{Sym}(\omega )$
and we will define some
$g\in G$
respecting
$\sigma $
coordinate-wise. Using Lemma 2.2, choose a sequence
of integers such that for all
$i\in \omega $
, both
$f_i(n)\neq f_j(n)$
and
$f_{\sigma (i)}(n)\neq f_{\sigma (j)}(n)$
hold for all
$n\ge N_i$
and all
$j<i$
.
Since
$\{N_i\}$
are increasing, it follows that for each
$i\in \omega $
and all
$n\ge N_i$
, the subsets
$\{f_j(n):j\le i\}$
and
$\{f_{\sigma (j)}(n):j\le i\}$
of
$[h(n)]$
each have precisely
$(i+1)$
elements. Thus, for each
$i<\omega $
and for each
$n\ge N_i$
, there is a permutation
$\delta _n\in \textit{Sym}([h(n)])$
satisfying
(Simply begin defining
$\delta _n$
to meet these constraints, and then complete
$\delta _n$
to a permutation of
$[h(n)]$
arbitrarily.) Using this, define
$g:=\langle \delta _n:n\in \omega \rangle $
, where each
$\delta _n\in \textit{Sym}([h(n)])$
is constructed as above. To see that g respects
$\sigma $
, note that for every
$i\in \omega $
,
$(g\cdot f_i)(n)=f_{\sigma (i)}(n)$
for all
$n\ge N_{i}$
, so
$(g\cdot f_i)\sim f_{\sigma (i)}$
.
Definition 2.5. For distinct integers
$i\neq j$
, let
$d_{i,j}\in {\mathcal B}$
be defined by:
$$ \begin{align*} d_{i,j}(n):=\begin{cases} f_i(n) & \text{if } n \text{ even;} \\ f_j(n) & \text{if } n \text{ odd.}\end{cases} \end{align*} $$
Let
$Z:=\{d_{i,j}:i\neq j\}$
.
Note that
$d_{i,j}\not \sim f_k$
for all distinct
$i,j$
and all
$k\in \omega $
, hence
$\{[f_i]:i\in \omega \}$
and
$\{[d_{i,j}]:i\neq j\}$
are disjoint.
Lemma 2.6. For all
$\sigma \in \textit{Sym}(\omega )$
, if
$g\in G$
respects
$\sigma $
, then
$g\cdot [d_{i,j}]=[d_{\sigma (i),\sigma (j)}]$
for all
$i\neq j$
.
Proof Choose
$\sigma \in \textit{Sym}(\omega )$
, g respecting
$\sigma $
, and
$i\neq j$
. Choose N such that
$(g\cdot [f_i])(n)=[f_{\sigma (i)}](n)$
and
$(g\cdot [f_j])(n)=[f_{\sigma (j)}](n)$
for every
$n\ge N$
. Since
$d_{i,j}(n)=f_i(n)$
for
$n\ge N$
even,
Dually,
$(g\cdot d_{i,j})(n)=f_{\sigma (j)}(n)$
when
$n\ge N$
is odd, so
$(g\cdot d_{i,j})\sim d_{\sigma (i),\sigma (j)}$
.
With the combinatorial preliminaries out of the way, we now prove that
$T_h$
is Borel complete. We form a highly homogeneous model
$M^*\models T_h$
and thereafter, all models we consider will be countable, elementary substructures of
$M^*$
. Let
$A=\{a_f:f\in {\mathcal B}\}$
and
$B=\{b_f:f\in {\mathcal B}\}$
be disjoint sets and let
$M^*$
be the L-structure with universe
$A\cup B$
and each
$E_n$
interpreted by the rules:
-
• For all
$f\in {\mathcal B}$
and
$n\in \omega $
,
$E_n(a_f,b_f)$
; and -
• For all
$f,f'\in {\mathcal B}$
and
$n\in \omega $
,
$E_n(a_f,a_{f'})$
iff
$f(n)=f'(n)$
,
with the other instances of
$E_n$
following by symmetry and transitivity. For any finite
$F\subseteq \omega $
,
$\{f\mathord \restriction _{F}:f\in {\mathcal B}\}$
has exactly
$\Pi _{n\in F} h(n)$
elements, hence
$E_F(x,y):=\bigwedge _{n\in F} E_n(x,y)$
has
$\Pi _{n\in F} h(n)$
classes in
$M^*$
. Thus, the
$\{E_n:n\in \omega \}$
cross cut and
$M^*\models T_h$
.
Let
$E_{\infty }(x,y)$
denote the (type definable) equivalence relation
$\bigwedge _{n\in \omega } E_n(x,y)$
. Then, in
$M^*$
,
$E_{\infty }$
partitions
$M^*$
into two-element classes
$\{a_f,b_f\}$
, indexed by
$f\in {\mathcal B}$
. Note also that every
$g\in G$
induces an L-automorphism
$g^*\in Aut(M^*)$
by
$$ \begin{align*} g^*(x):=\begin{cases} a_{(g\cdot f)} & \text{if } x=a_f \text{ for some } f\in{\mathcal B};\\ b_{(g\cdot f)} & \text{if } x=b_f \text{ for some } f\in{\mathcal B}. \end{cases} \end{align*} $$
Recall the set
$Y=\{f_i:i\in {\mathcal B}\}$
from Lemma 2.2, so
$[Y]=\{[f_i]:i\in \omega \}$
. Let
$M_0\subseteq M^*$
be the substructure with universe
$\{a_f:f\in [Y]\}$
. As
$T_h$
admits elimination of quantifiers and as
$[Y]$
is dense in
${\mathcal B}$
,
$M_0\preceq M^*$
. Moreover, every substructure M of
$M^*$
with universe containing
$M_0$
will also be an elementary substructure of
$M^*$
, hence a model of
$T_h$
.
To show that
$Mod(T_h)$
is Borel complete, we define a Borel mapping from
$\{$
irreflexive graphs
${\mathcal G}=(\omega ,R)\}$
to
$Mod(T_h)$
as follows: Given
${\mathcal G}$
, let
$Z(R):=\{d_{i,j}\in Z:{\mathcal G}\models R(i,j)\}$
, so
$[Z(R)]=\bigcup \{[d_{i,j}]:d_{i,j}\in Z(R)\}$
. Let
$M_G\preceq M^*$
be the substructure with universe
That the map
${\mathcal G}\mapsto M_G$
is Borel is routine, given that Y and Z are fixed throughout.
Note that in
$M_G$
, every
$E_{\infty }$
-class has either one or two elements. Specifically, for each
$d\in [Z(R)]$
, the
$E_{\infty }$
-class
$[a_d]_{\infty }=\{a_d,b_d\}$
, while the
$E_{\infty }$
-class
$[a_f]_{\infty }=\{a_f\}$
for every
$f\in [Y]$
.
We must show that for any two graphs
${\mathcal G}=(\omega ,R)$
and
${\mathcal H}=(\omega ,S)$
,
${\mathcal G}$
and
${\mathcal H}$
are isomorphic if and only if the L-structures
$M_G$
and
$M_H$
are isomorphic.
To verify this, first choose a graph isomorphism
$\sigma :(\omega ,R)\rightarrow (\omega ,S)$
. Then
$\sigma \in \textit{Sym}(\omega )$
and, for distinct integers
$i\neq j$
,
$d_{i,j}\in Z(R)$
if and only if
$d_{\sigma (i),\sigma (j)}\in Z(S)$
. Apply Lemma 2.4 to get
$g\in G$
respecting
$\sigma $
and let
$g^*\in Aut(M^*)$
be the L-automorphism induced by g. By Lemma 2.6 and Definition 2.3, it is easily checked that the restriction of
$g^*$
to
$M_G$
is an L-isomorphism between
$M_G$
and
$M_H$
.
Conversely, assume that
$\Psi :M_G\rightarrow M_H$
is an L-isomorphism. Clearly,
$\Psi $
maps
$E_{\infty }$
-classes in
$M_G$
to
$E_{\infty }$
-classes in
$M_H$
. In particular,
$\Psi $
permutes the one-element
$E_{\infty }$
-classes
$\{\{a_f\}:f\in [Y]\}$
of both
$M_G$
and
$M_H$
, and maps the two-element
$E_{\infty }$
-classes
$\{\{a_d,b_d\}:d\in [Z(R)]\}$
of
$M_G$
onto the two-element
$E_{\infty }$
-classes
$\{\{a_d,b_d\}:d\in [Z(S)]\}$
of
$M_H$
. That is,
$\Psi $
induces a bijection
$F:[Y\sqcup Z(R)]\rightarrow [Y\sqcup Z(S)]$
that permutes
$[Y]$
.
As well, by the interpretations of the
$E_n$
’s, for
$f,f'\in [Y\sqcup Z(R)]$
and
$n\in \omega $
,
From this it follows that F maps
$\sim $
-classes onto
$\sim $
-classes. As F permutes
$[Y]$
and as
$[Y]=\bigcup \{[f_i]:i\in \omega \}$
, F induces a permutation
$\sigma \in \textit{Sym}(\omega )$
given by
$\sigma (i)$
is the unique
$i^*\in \omega $
such that
$F([f_i])=[f_{i^*}]$
.
We claim that this
$\sigma $
induces a graph isomorphism between
${\mathcal G}=(\omega ,R)$
and
${\mathcal H}=(\omega ,S)$
. Indeed, choose any
$(i,j)\in R$
. Thus,
$d_{i,j}\in Z(R)$
. As F is
$\sim $
-preserving, choose N large enough so that
$F(f_i)(n)\hspace{-2pt}=\hspace{-2pt}F(f_{\sigma (i)})(n)$
and
$F(f_j)(n)\hspace{-2pt}=\hspace{-2pt}F(f_{\sigma (j)})(n)$
for every
$n\ge N$
. By definition of
$d_{i,j}$
,
$d_{i,j}(n)\hspace{-2pt}=\hspace{-2pt}f_i(n)$
for
$n\ge N$
even, so
$F(d_{i,j})(n)=F(f_i)(n)=f_{\sigma (i)}(n)$
for such n. Dually, for
$n\ge N$
odd,
$F(d_{i,j})(n)=F(f_j)(n)=f_{\sigma (j)}(n)$
. Hence,
$F(d_{i,j})\sim d_{\sigma (i),\sigma (j)}\in [Z(S)]$
. Thus,
$(\sigma (i),\sigma (j))\in S$
. The converse direction is symmetric (i.e., use
$\Psi ^{-1}$
in place of
$\Psi $
and run the same argument).
Remark 2.7. If we relax the assumption that
$h:\omega \rightarrow \omega \setminus \{0\}$
is strictly increasing, there are two cases. If h is unbounded, then the proof given above can easily be modified to show that the associated
$T_h$
is also Borel complete. Conversely, with Theorem 6.2 of [Reference Laskowski and Ulrich6] the authors prove that if
$h:\omega \rightarrow \omega \setminus \{0\}$
is bounded, then
$T_h$
is not Borel complete. The salient distinction between the two cases is that when h is bounded, the associated group G has bounded exponent. However, even in the bounded case
$T_h$
has a Borel complete reduct by Lemma 3.1 below.
3 Applications to reducts
We begin with one easy lemma that, when considering reducts, obviates the need for the number of classes to be strictly increasing.
Lemma 3.1. Let
$L=\{E_n:n\in \omega \}$
and let
$f:\omega \rightarrow \omega \setminus \{0,1\}$
be any function. Then every model M of
$T_f$
, the complete theory asserting that each
$E_n$
is an equivalence relation with
$f(n)$
classes, and that the
$\{E_n\}$
cross-cut, has a Borel complete reduct.
Proof Given any function
$f:\omega \rightarrow \omega \setminus \{0,1\}$
, choose a partition
$\omega =\bigsqcup \{F_n:n\in \omega \}$
into non-empty finite sets for which
$\Pi _{k\in F_n} f(k)< \Pi _{k\in F_m} f(k)$
whenever
$n<m<\omega $
. For each n, let
$h(n):=\Pi _{k\in F_n} f(k)$
and let
$E^*_n(x,y):=\bigwedge _{k\in F_n} E_k(x,y)$
. Then, as h is strictly increasing and
$\{E^*_n\}$
is a cross-cutting set of equivalence relations with each
$E_n^*$
having
$h(n)$
classes.
Now let
$M\models T_f$
be arbitrary and let
$L'=\{E^*_n:n\in \omega \}$
. As each
$E_n^*$
described above is 0-definable in M, there is an
$L'$
-reduct
$M'$
of M. It follows from Theorem 2.1 that
$T'=Th(M')$
is Borel complete, so
$T_f$
has a Borel complete reduct.
Theorem 3.2. Suppose T is a complete theory in a countable language with uncountably many one-types. Then every model M of T has a Borel complete reduct.
Proof Let
$M\models T$
be arbitrary. As usual, by the Cantor–Bendixon analysis of the compact, Hausdorff–Stone space
$S_1(T)$
of complete one-types, choose a set
$\{\varphi _{\eta }(x):\eta \in 2^{<\omega }\}$
of 0-definable formulas, indexed by the tree
$(2^{<\omega },\trianglelefteq )$
ordered by initial segment, satisfying:
-
1.
$M\models \exists x\varphi _{\eta }(x)$
for each
$\eta \in 2^{<\omega }$
; -
2. For
$\nu \trianglelefteq \eta $
,
$M\models \forall x(\varphi _{\eta }(x)\rightarrow \varphi _{\nu }(x))$
; -
3. For each
$n\in \omega $
,
$\{\varphi _{\eta }(x):\eta \in 2^n\}$
are pairwise contradictory.
By increasing these formulas slightly, we can additionally require
-
4. For each
$n\in \omega $
,
$M\models \forall x( \bigvee _{\eta \in 2^n} \varphi _{\eta }(x))$
.
Given such a tree of formulas, for each
$n\in \omega $
, define
Because of (4) above,
$M\models \forall x(\delta ^0_n(x)\vee \delta ^1_n(x))$
for each n. Also, for each n, let
From the above, each
$E_n$
is a 0-definable equivalence relation with precisely two classes.
Claim: The equivalence relations
$\{E_n:n\in \omega \}$
are cross-cutting.
Proof It suffices to prove that for every
$m>0$
, the equivalence relation
$E^*_m(x,y):=\bigwedge _{n<m} E_n(x,y)$
has
$2^m$
classes. So fix m and choose a subset
$A_m=\{a_{\eta }:\eta \in 2^m\}\subseteq M$
forming a set of representatives for the formulas
$\{\varphi _{\eta }(x):\eta \in 2^m\}$
. It suffices to show that
$M\models \neg E^*_m(a_{\eta },a_{\nu })$
whenever
$\eta \neq \nu $
are from
$2^m$
. But this is clear. Fix distinct
$\eta \neq \nu $
and choose any
$k<m$
such that
$\eta (k)\neq \nu (k)$
. Then
$M\models \neg E_k(a_{\eta },a_{\nu })$
, hence
$M\models \neg E^*_m(a_{\eta },a_{\nu })$
.
Thus, taking the 0-definable relations
$\{E_n\}$
, M has a reduct that is a model of
$T_f$
(where f is the constant function 2). As reducts of reducts are reducts, it follows from Lemma 3.1 and Theorem 2.1 that M has a Borel complete reduct.
We highlight how unexpected Theorem 3.2 is with two examples. First, the theory of ‘Independent unary predicates’ mentioned in the Introduction has a Borel complete reduct.
Next, we explore the assumption that a countable, complete theory T is not small, i.e., for some k there are uncountably many k-types. We conjecture that some model of T has a Borel complete reduct. If
$k=1$
, then by Theorem 3.2, every model of T has a Borel complete reduct. If
$k>1$
is least, then it is easily seen that there is some complete
$(k-1)$
-type
$p(x_1,\dots ,x_{k-1})$
with uncountably many complete
$q(x_1,\dots ,x_k)$
extending p. Thus, if M is any model of T realizing p, say by
$\bar {a}=(a_1,\dots ,a_{k-1})$
, the expansion
$(M,a_1,\dots ,a_{k-1})$
has a Borel complete reduct, also by Theorem 3.2. Similarly, we have the following result.
Corollary 3.3. Suppose T is a complete theory in a countable language that is not small. Then for any model M of T,
$M^{eq}$
has a Borel complete reduct.
Proof Let M be any model of T and choose k least such that T has uncountably many complete k-types consistent with it. In the language
$L^{eq}\kern-1.5pt$
, there is a sort
$U_k$
and a definable bijection
$f:M^k\rightarrow U_k$
. Hence
$Th(M^{eq})$
has uncountably many one-types consistent with it, each extending
$U_k$
. Thus,
$M^{eq}$
has a Borel complete reduct by Theorem 3.2.
Finally, recall that a countable, complete theory is not
$\omega $
-stable if, for some countable model M of T, the Stone space
$S_1(M)$
is uncountable. From this, we immediately obtain our final corollary.
Corollary 3.4. If a countable, complete T is not
$\omega $
-stable, then for some countable model M of T, the elementary diagram of M in the language
$L(M)=L\cup \{c_m:m\in M\}$
has a Borel complete reduct.
Proof Choose a countable M so that
$S_1(M)$
is uncountable. Then, in the language
$L(M)$
, the theory of the expanded structure
$M_M$
in the language
$L(M)$
has uncountably many one-types, hence it has a Borel complete reduct by Theorem 3.2.
The results above are by no means characterizations. Indeed, there are many Borel complete
$\omega $
-stable theories. In [Reference Laskowski and Shelah5], the first author and Shelah prove that any
$\omega $
-stable theory that has eni-DOP or is eni-deep is not only Borel complete, but also
$\lambda $
-Borel complete for all
$\lambda $
.Footnote
2
As well, there are
$\omega $
-stable theories with only countably many countable models that have Borel complete reducts. To illustrate this, we introduce three interrelated theories. The first,
$T_0$
, in the language
$L_0=\{U,V,W,R\}$
is the paradigmatic DOP theory.
$T_0$
asserts that:
-
•
$U,V,W$
partition the universe; -
•
$R\subseteq U\times V\times W$
; -
•
$T_0\models \forall x\forall y\exists ^\infty z R(x,y,z)$
[more formally, for each n,
$T_0\models \forall x\forall y\exists ^{\ge n} z R(x,y,z)$
]; and -
•
$T_0\models \forall x\forall x'\forall y\forall y'\forall z [R(x,y,z)\wedge R(x',y',z)\rightarrow (x=x'\wedge y=y')]$
.
$T_0$
is both
$\omega $
-stable and
$\omega $
-categorical and its unique countable model is rather tame. The complexity of
$T_0$
is only witnessed with uncountable models, where one can code arbitrary bipartite graphs in an uncountable model M by choosing the cardinalities of the sets
$R(a,b,M)$
among
$(a,b)\in U\times V$
to be either
$\aleph _0$
or
$|M|$
.
To get bad behavior of countable models, we expand
$T_0$
to an
$L=L_0\cup \{f_n:n\in \omega \}$
-theory
$T\supseteq T_0$
that additionally asserts:
-
• Each
$f_n:U\times V\rightarrow W$
; -
•
$\forall x\forall y R(x,y,f_n(x,y))$
for each n; and -
• for distinct
$n\neq m$
,
$\forall x\forall y (f_n(x,y)\neq f_m(x,y))$
.
This T is
$\omega $
-stable with eni-DOP and hence is Borel complete by Theorem 4.12 of [Reference Laskowski and Shelah5].
However, T has an expansion
$T^*$
in a language
$L^*:=L\cup \{c,d,g,h\}$
whose models are much better behaved. Let
$T^*$
additionally assert:
-
•
$U(c)\wedge V(d)$
; -
•
$g:U\rightarrow V$
is a bijection with
$g(c)=d$
; -
• Letting
$W^*:=\{z:R(c,d,z)\}$
,
$h:U\times V\times W^*\rightarrow W$
is an injective map that is the identity on
$W^*$
and, for each
$(x,y)\in U\times V$
, maps
$W^*$
onto
$\{z\in W: R(x,y,z)\}$
; and moreover -
• h commutes with each
$f_n$
, i.e.,
$\forall x\forall y (h(x,y,f_n(c,d))=f_n(x,y))$
.
Then
$T^*$
is
$\omega $
-stable and two-dimensional (the dimensions being
$|U|$
and
$|W^*\setminus \{f_n(c,d):n\in \omega \}|$
), hence
$T^*$
has only countably many countable models. However,
$T^*$
visibly has a Borel complete reduct, namely T.
4 Observations about the theories
$T_h$
In addition to their utility in proving Borel complete reducts, the theories
$T_h$
in Section 2 illustrate some novel behaviors. First off, model theoretically, these theories are extremely simple. More precisely, each theory
$T_h$
is weakly minimal with the geometry of every strong type trivial (such theories are known as mutually algebraic in [Reference Laskowski4]).
Additionally, the theories
$T_h$
are the simplest known examples of theories that are Borel complete, but not
$\lambda $
-Borel complete for all cardinals
$\lambda $
. For
$\lambda $
any infinite cardinal,
$\lambda $
-Borel completeness was introduced in [Reference Laskowski and Shelah5]. Instead of looking at L-structures with universe
$\omega $
, we consider
$X_L^\lambda $
, the set of L-structures with universe
$\lambda $
. We topologize
$X_L^\lambda $
analogously; namely a basis consists of all sets
for all L-formulas
$\varphi (x_1,\dots ,x_n)$
and all
$(\alpha _1,\dots ,\alpha _n)\in \lambda ^n$
. Define a subset of
$X_L^\lambda $
to be
$\lambda $
-Borel if it is the smallest
$\lambda ^+$
-algebra containing the basic open sets, and call a function
$f:X_{L_1}^\lambda \rightarrow X_{L_2}^\lambda $
to be
$\lambda $
-Borel if the inverse image of every basic open set is
$\lambda $
-Borel. For
$T,S$
theories in languages
$L_1,L_2$
, respectively, we say that
$\mathrm {Mod}_{\lambda }(T)$
is
$\lambda $
-Borel reducible to
$\mathrm {Mod}_{\lambda }(S)$
if there is a
$\lambda $
-Borel
$f:\mathrm {Mod}_{\lambda }(T)\rightarrow \mathrm {Mod}_{\lambda }(S)$
preserving back-and-forth equivalence in both directions (i.e.,
$M\equiv _{\infty ,\omega } N\Leftrightarrow f(M)\equiv _{\infty ,\omega } f(N)$
).
As back-and-forth equivalence is the same as isomorphism for countable structures,
$\lambda $
-Borel reducibility when
$\lambda =\omega $
is identical to Borel reducibility. As before, for any infinite
$\lambda $
, there is a maximal class under
$\lambda $
-Borel reducibility, and we say a theory is
$\lambda $
-Borel complete if it is in this maximal class. All of the ‘classical’ Borel complete theories, e.g., graphs, linear orders, groups, and fields, are
$\lambda $
-Borel complete for all
$\lambda $
. However, the theories
$T_h$
are not.
Lemma 4.1. If T is mutually algebraic in a countable language, then there are at most
$\beth _2$
pairwise
$\equiv _{\infty ,\omega }$
-inequivalent models
$($
of any size
$)$
.
Proof We show that every model M has an
$(\infty ,\omega )$
-elementary substructure of size
$2^{\aleph _0}$
, which suffices. So, fix M and choose an arbitrary countable
$M_0\preceq M$
. By Proposition 4.4 of [Reference Laskowski4],
$M\setminus M_0$
can be decomposed into countable components, and any permutation of isomorphic components induces an automorphism of M fixing
$M_0$
pointwise. As there are at most
$2^{\aleph _0}$
non-isomorphic components over
$M_0$
, choose a substructure
$N\subseteq M$
containing
$M_0$
and, for each isomorphism type of a component, N contains either all of copies in M (if there are only finitely many) or else precisely
$\aleph _0$
copies if M contains infinitely many copies. It is easily checked that
$N\preceq _{\infty ,\omega } M$
.
Corollary 4.2. No mutually algebraic theory T in a countable language is
$\lambda $
-Borel complete for
$\lambda \ge \beth _2$
. In particular,
$T_h$
is Borel complete, but not
$\lambda $
-Borel complete for large
$\lambda $
.
Proof Fix
$\lambda \ge \beth _2$
. It is readily checked that there is a family of
$2^{\lambda }$
graphs that are pairwise not back and forth equivalent. As there are fewer than
$2^{\lambda } \ \equiv _{\infty ,\omega }$
-classes of models of T, there cannot be a
$\lambda $
-Borel reduction of graphs into
$\mathrm {Mod}_{\lambda }(T)$
.
In [Reference Ulrich, Rast and Laskowski7], another example of a Borel complete theory that is not
$\lambda $
-Borel complete for all
$\lambda $
is given (it is dubbed
$TK$
there) but the
$T_h$
examples are cleaner. In order to understand this behavior, in [Reference Ulrich, Rast and Laskowski7] we call a theory T grounded if every potential canonical Scott sentence
$\sigma $
of a model of T (i.e., in some forcing extension
${\mathbb V}[G]$
of
${\mathbb V}$
,
$\sigma $
is a canonical Scott sentence of some model), then
$\sigma $
is a canonical Scott sentence of a model in
${\mathbb V}$
. Proposition 5.1 of [Reference Ulrich, Rast and Laskowski7] proves that every theory of refining equivalence relations is grounded. By contrast, we have
Proposition 4.3. If T is Borel complete with a cardinal bound on the number of
$\equiv _{\infty ,\omega }$
-classes of models, then T is not grounded. In particular,
$T_h$
is not grounded.
Proof Let
$\kappa $
denote the number of
$\equiv _{\infty ,\omega }$
-classes of models of T. If T were grounded, then
$\kappa $
would also bound the number of potential canonical Scott sentences. As the class of graphs has a proper class of potential canonical Scott sentences, it would follow from Theorem 3.10 of [Reference Ulrich, Rast and Laskowski7] that T could not be Borel complete.
Acknowledgment
Both authors were partially supported by NSF grant no. DMS-1855789.



