We study one way in which stable phenomena can exist in an NIP theory. We start by defining a notion of ‘pure instability’ that we call ‘distality’ in which no such phenomenon occurs. O-minimal theories and the p-adics for example are distal. Next, we try to understand what happens when distality fails. Given a type p over a sufficiently saturated model, we extract, in some sense, the stable part of p and define a notion of stable independence which is implied (...) by non-forking and has bounded weight. (shrink)

In [16], Peterzil and Steinhorn proved that if a group G definable in an o-minimal structure is not definably compact, then G contains a definable torsion-free subgroup of dimension 1. We prove here a p-adic analogue of the Peterzil–Steinhorn theorem, in the special case of abelian groups. Let G be an abelian group definable in a p-adically closed field M. If G is not definably compact then there is a definable subgroup H of dimension 1 which is not definably compact. (...) In a future paper we will generalize this to non-abelian G. (shrink)

We prove that in an arbitrary o-minimal structure, every interpretable group is definably isomorphic to a definable one. We also prove that every definable group lives in a cartesian product of one-dimensional definable group-intervals. We discuss the general open question of elimination of imaginaries in an o-minimal structure.

The class of geometric surgical theories is examined. The main theorem is that every stable theory that is interpretable in a geometric surgical theory is superstable of finite U-rank.

Recall that a group G has finitely satisfiable generics (fsg) or definable f-generics (dfg) if there is a global type p on G and a small model $M_0$ such that every left translate of p is finitely satisfiable in $M_0$ or definable over $M_0$, respectively. We show that any abelian group definable in a p-adically closed field is an extension of a definably compact fsg definable group by a dfg definable group. We discuss an approach which might prove a similar (...) statement for interpretable abelian groups. In the case where G is an abelian group definable in the standard model $\mathbb {Q}_p$, we show that $G^0 = G^{00}$, and that G is an open subgroup of an algebraic group, up to finite factors. This latter result can be seen as a rough classification of abelian definable groups in $\mathbb {Q}_p$. (shrink)

Let G be a definable group in a p-adically closed field M. We show that G has finitely satisfiable generics ( fsg $\text{fsg}$ ) if and only if G is definably compact. The case M = Q p $M = \mathbb {Q}_p$ was previously proved by Onshuus and Pillay.

We give an example of a dense o-minimal structure in which there is a definable quotient that cannot be eliminated, even after naming parameters. Equivalently, there is an interpretable set which cannot be put in parametrically definable bijection with any definable set. This gives a negative answer to a question of Eleftheriou, Peterzil, and Ramakrishnan. Additionally, we show that interpretable sets in dense o-minimal structures admit definable topologies which are “tame” in several ways: (a) they are Hausdorff, (b) every point (...) has a neighborhood which is definably homeomorphic to a definable set, (c) definable functions are piecewise continuous, (d) definable subsets have finitely many definably connected components, and (e) the frontier of a definable subset has lower dimension than the subset itself. (shrink)

We prove that any field definable in (Q p, +, ·) is definably isomorphic to a finite extension ofQ p.

This paper has two parts. In the first one, we prove that an invariant dp-minimal type is either finitely satisfiable or definable. We also prove that a definable version of the -theorem holds in dp-minimal theories of small or medium directionality.In the second part, we study dp-rank in dp-minimal theories and show that it enjoys many nice properties. It is continuous, definable in families and it can be characterised geometrically with no mention of indiscernible sequences. In particular, if the structure (...) expands a divisible ordered abelian group, then dp-rank coincides with the dimension coming from the order. (shrink)