LetMbe a countably infinite ω-categorical structure. Consider Aut(M) as a complete metric space by definingd(g, h) = Ω{2−n:g(xn) ≠h(xn) org−1(xn) ≠h−1(xn)} where {xn:n∈ ω} is an enumeration ofMAn automorphism α ∈ Aut(M) is generic if its conjugacy class is comeagre. J. Truss has shown in [11] that if the set P of all finite partial isomorphisms contains a co-final subset P1closed under conjugacy and having the amalgamation property and the joint embedding property then there is a generic automorphism. In the (...) present paper we give a weaker condition of this kind which is equivalent to the existence of generic automorphisms. Really we give more: a characterization of the existence of generic expansions (defined in an appropriate way) of an ω-categorical structure. We also show that Truss' condition guarantees the existence of a countable structure consisting of automorphisms ofMwhich can be considered as an atomic model of some theory naturally associated toM. We do it in a general context of weak models for second-order quantifiers.The author thanks Ludomir Newelski for pointing out a mistake in the first version of Theorem 1.2 and for interesting discussions. Also, the author is grateful to the referee for very helpful remarks. (shrink)

Assume that the class of partial automorphisms of the monster model of a complete theory has the amalgamation property. The beautiful automorphisms are the automorphisms of models ofT which: 1. are strong, i.e. leave the algebraic closure (inT eq) of the empty set pointwise fixed, 2. are obtained by the Fraïsse construction using the amalgamation property that we have just mentioned. We show that all the beautiful automorphisms have the same theory (in the language ofT plus one unary function symbol (...) for the automorphism), and we study this theory. In particular, we examine the question of the saturation of the beautiful automorphisms. We also prove that in some cases (in particular if the theory is ω-stable andG-trivial), almost all (in the sense of Baire categoricity) automorphisms of the saturated countable model are beautiful and conjugate. (shrink)