We develop positive model theory, which is a non first order analogue of classical model theory where compactness is kept at the expense of negation. The analogue of a first order theory in this framework is a compact abstract theory: several equivalent yet conceptually different presentations of this notion are given. We prove in particular that Banach and Hilbert spaces are compact abstract theories, and in fact very well-behaved as such.

Let K be the class of atomic models of a countable first order theory. We prove that if K is excellent and categorical in some uncountable cardinal, then each model is prime and minimal over the basis of a definable pregeometry given by a quasiminimal set. This implies that K is categorical in all uncountable cardinals. We also introduce a U-rank to measure the complexity of complete types over models. We prove that the U-rank has the usual additivity properties, that (...) quasiminimal types have U-rank 1, and that the U-rank of any type is finite in the uncountably categorical, excellent case. However, in contrast to the first order case, the supremum of the U-rank over all types may be ω (and is not achieved). We illustrate the theory with the example of free groups, and Zilber's pseudo analytic structures. (shrink)

This paper is concerned with extensions of geometric stability theory to some nonelementary classes. We prove the following theorem:Theorem. Let [Formula: see text] be a large homogeneous model of a stable diagram D. Let p, q ∈ SD(A), where p is quasiminimal and q unbounded. Let [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. Suppose that there exists an integer n < ω such that [Formula: see text] for any independent a1, …, an∈ P and finite subset C ⊆ Q, but (...) [Formula: see text] for some independent a1, …, an, an+1∈ P and some finite subset C ⊆ Q.Then [Formula: see text] interprets a group G which acts on the geometry P′ obtained from P. Furthermore, either [Formula: see text] interprets a non-classical group, or n = 1,2,3 and•If n = 1 then G is abelian and acts regularly on P′.•If n = 2 the action of G on P′ is isomorphic to the affine action of K ⋊ K* on the algebraically closed field K.•If n = 3 the action of G on P′ is isomorphic to the action of PGL2(K) on the projective line ℙ1(K) of the algebraically closed field K.We prove a similar result for excellent classes. (shrink)

We study the class of elementary submodels of a large superstable homogeneous model. We introduce a rank which is bounded in the superstable case, and use it to define a dependence relation which shares many (but not all) of the properties of forking in the first order case. The main difference is that we do not have extension over all sets. We also present an example of Shelah showing that extension over all sets may not hold for any dependence relation (...) for superstable homogeneous models. (shrink)

In this paper we study elementary submodels of a stable homogeneous structure. We improve the independence relation defined in Hyttinen 167–182). We apply this to prove a structure theorem. We also show that dop and sdop are essentially equivalent, where the negation of dop is the property we use in our structure theorem and sdop implies nonstructure, see Hyttinen.

A superstable homogeneous structure is said to be simple if every complete type over any set A has a free extension over any B ⊇ A. In this paper we give a characterization for this property in terms of U-rank. As a corollary we get that if the structure has finite U-rank, then it is simple.

We generalize tools and results from first order stable theories to groups inside a simple stable strongly homogeneous model.