For a first-order formula φ(x; y) we introduce and study the characteristic sequence ⟨P n : n < ω⟩ of hypergraphs defined by P n (y₁…., y n ):= $(\exists x)\bigwedge _{i\leq n}\varphi (x;y_{i})$ . We show that combinatorial and classification theoretic properties of the characteristic sequence reflect classification theoretic properties of φ and vice versa. The main results are a characterization of NIP and of simplicity in terms of persistence of configurations in the characteristic sequence. Specifically, we show that (...) some tree properties are detected by the presence of certain combinatorial configurations in the characteristic sequence while other properties such as instability and the independence property manifest themselves in the persistence of complicated configurations under localization. (shrink)

Dividing chains have been used as conditions to isolate adequate subclasses of simple theories. In the first part of this paper we present an introduction to the area. We give an overview on fundamental notions and present proofs of some of the basic and well-known facts related to dividing chains in simple theories. In the second part we discuss various characterizations of the subclass of low theories. Our main theorem generalizes and slightly extends a well-known fact about the connection between (...) dividing chains and Morley sequences (in our case: independent sequences). Moreover, we are able to give a proof that is shorter than the original one. This result motivates us to introduce a special property of formulas concerning independent dividing chains: For any dividing chain there exists an independent dividing chain of the same length. We study this property in the context of low, short and ω -categorical simple theories, outline some examples and define subclasses of low and short theories, which imply this property. The results give rise to further studies of the relationships between some subclasses of simple theories. (shrink)