arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Martin Hils.
We prove a uniform estimate of the number of points for difference algebraic varieties in finite difference fields in the spirit of Lang-Weil. More precisely, we give uniform lower and upper bounds for the number of rational points of a difference variety in terms of its transformal dimension. As a main technical ingredient, we prove an equidimensionality result for Frobenius reductions of difference varieties.
We investigate when an ordered abelian group $G$ is stably embedded in a given elementary extension $H$. We focus on a large class of ordered groups which includes maximal ordered groups with interpretable archimedean valuation. We give a complete answer for groups in this class which takes the form of a transfer principle for valued groups. It follows in particular that all types in the lexicographic product $\prod_{i\in \omega} \mathbb{Z}$ are definable.
We study metric valued fields in continuous logic, following Ben Yaacov's approach, thus working in the metric space given by the projective line. As our main result, we obtain an approximate Ax-Kochen-Ershov principle in this framework, completely describing elementary equivalence in equicharacteristic 0 in terms of the residue field and value group. Moreover, we show that, in any characteristic, the theory of metric valued difference fields does not admit a model-companion. This answers a question of Ben Yaacov.
We exhibit a theory where definable types lack the amalgamation property.
We give a complete list of the one-dimensional groups definable in algebraically closed valued fields and i the pseudo-local fields, up to a finite index subgroup and a quotient by a finite subgroup.
We introduce an abstract framework to study certain classes of stably embedded pairs of models of a complete $\mathcal{L}$-theory $T$, called \textit{beautiful pairs}, which comprises Poizat's belles paires of stable structures and van den Dries-Lewenberg's tame pairs of o-minimal structures. Using an amalgamation construction, we relate several properties of beautiful pairs with properties analogous to properties in Fra\"{i}ss\'e classes. After characterizing beautiful pairs of various theories of ordered abelian groups and valued fields, including the theories of algebraically closed, $p$-adically closed and real closed valued fields, we show an Ax-Kochen-Ershov type result for beautiful pairs of henselian valued fields. As an application, we derive strict pro-definability of particular classes of definable types. When $T$ is one of the theories of valued fields mentioned above, the corresponding classes of types are related to classical geometric spaces and our main result specializes to their strict pro-definability. Most notably, we exhibit the strict pro-definability of a natural space of types associated to Huber's analytification. In this way, we also recover a result of Hrushovski-Loeser on the strict pro-definability of stably dominated types in algebraically closed valued fields, which corresponds to Berkovich's analytification.
We study interpretable sets in henselian and sigma-henselian valued fields with value group elementarily equivalent to Q or Z. Our first result is an Ax-Kochen-Ershov type principle for weak elimination of imaginaries in finitely ramified characteristic zero henselian fields -- relative to value group imaginaries and residual linear imaginaries. We extend this result to the valued difference context and show, in particular, that existentially closed equicharacteristic zero multiplicative difference valued fields eliminate imaginaries in the geometric sorts; the omega-increasing case corresponds to the theory of the non-standard Frobenius automorphism acting on an algebraically closed valued field. On the way, we establish some auxiliary results on separated pairs of characteristic zero henselian fields and on imaginaries in linear structures which are also of independent interest.
We study the domination monoid in various classes of structures arising from the model theory of henselian valuations, including RV-expansions of henselian valued fields of residue characteristic 0 (and, more generally, of benign valued fields), p-adically closed fields, monotone D-henselian differential valued fields with many constants, regular ordered abelian groups, and pure short exact sequences of abelian structures. We obtain Ax-Kochen-Ershov type reductions to suitable fully embedded families of sorts in quite general settings, and full computations in concrete ones.
For $G$ an algebraic group definable over a model of $\operatorname{ACVF}$, or more generally a definable subgroup of an algebraic group, we study the stable completion $\widehat{G}$ of $G$, as introduced by Loeser and the second author. For $G$ connected and stably dominated, assuming $G$ commutative or that the valued field is of equicharacteristic 0, we construct a pro-definable $G$-equivariant strong deformation retraction of $\widehat{G}$ onto the generic type of $G$. For $G=S$ a semiabelian variety, we construct a pro-definable $S$-equivariant strong deformation retraction of $\widehat{S}$ onto a definable group which is internal to the value group. We show that, in case $S$ is defined over a complete valued field $K$ with value group a subgroup of $\mathbb{R}$, this map descends to an $S(K)$-equivariant strong deformation retraction of the Berkovich analytification $S^{\mathrm{an}}$ of $S$ onto a piecewise linear group, namely onto the skeleton of $S^{\mathrm{an}}$. This yields a construction of such a retraction without resorting to an analytic (non-algebraic) uniformization of $S$. Furthermore, we prove a general result on abelian groups definable in an NIP theory: any such group $G$ is a directed union of $\infty$-definable subgroups which all stabilize a generically stable Keisler measure on $G$.
We show that separably closed valued fields of finite imperfection degree (either with lambda-functions or commuting Hasse derivations) eliminate imaginaries in the geometric language. We then use this classification of interpretable sets to study stably dominated types in those structures. We show that separably closed valued fields of finite imperfection degree are metastable and that the space of stably dominated types is strict pro-definable.
Motivated by possible applications to meromorphic dynamics, and generalising known properties of difference-closed fields, this paper studies the theory CCMA of compact complex manifolds with a generic automorphism. It is shown that while CCMA does admit geometric elimination of imaginaries, it cannot eliminate imaginaries outright: a counterexample to 3-uniqueness in CCM is exhibited. Finite-dimensional types are investigated and it is shown, following the approach of Pillay and Ziegler, that the canonical base property holds in CCMA. As a consequence the Zilber dichotomy is deduced: finite-dimensional types of SU-rank one are either one-based or almost internal to the fixed field. In addition, a general criterion for stable embeddedness in TA (when it exists) is established, and used to determine the full induced structure of CCMA on projective varieties, simple nonalgebraic complex tori, and simply connected nonalgebraic strongly minimal manifolds.
We extend the construction of bad fields of characteristic zero to the case of arbitrary prescribed divisible green torsion.
We show that the theory of the non-standard Frobenius automorphism, acting on an algebraically closed valued field of equal characteristic 0, is NTP2. More generally, in the contractive as well as in the isometric case, we prove that a sigma-henselian valued difference field of equicharacteristic 0 is NTP2, provided both the residue difference field and the value group (as an ordered difference group) are NTP2.
The universal-algebraic approach has proved a powerful tool in the study of the complexity of CSPs. This approach has previously been applied to the study of CSPs with finite or (infinite) omega-categorical templates, and relies on two facts. The first is that in finite or omega-categorical structures A, a relation is primitive positive definable if and only if it is preserved by the polymorphisms of A. The second is that every finite or omega-categorical structure is homomorphically equivalent to a core structure. In this paper, we present generalizations of these facts to infinite structures that are not necessarily omega-categorical. (This abstract has been severely curtailed by the space constraints of arXiv -- please read the full abstract in the article.) Finally, we present applications of our general results to the description and analysis of the complexity of CSPs. In particular, we give general hardness criteria based on the absence of polymorphisms that depend on more than one argument, and we present a polymorphism-based description of those CSPs that are first-order definable (and therefore can be solved in polynomial time).
Many fundamental problems in artificial intelligence, knowledge representation, and verification involve reasoning about sets and relations between sets and can be modeled as set constraint satisfaction problems (set CSPs). Such problems are frequently intractable, but there are several important set CSPs that are known to be polynomial-time tractable. We introduce a large class of set CSPs that can be solved in quadratic time. Our class, which we call EI, contains all previously known tractable set CSPs, but also some new ones that are of crucial importance for example in description logics. The class of EI set constraints has an elegant universal-algebraic characterization, which we use to show that every set constraint language that properly contains all EI set constraints already has a finite sublanguage with an NP-hard constraint satisfaction problem.
Let $S$ be a semiabelian variety over an algebraically closed field, and let $X$ be an irreducible subvariety not contained in a coset of a proper algebraic subgroup of $S$. We show that the number of irreducible components of $[n]^{-1}(X)$ is bounded uniformly in $n$, and moreover that the bound is uniform in families $X_t$. We prove this by purely Galois-theoretic methods. This proof applies in the more general context of divisible abelian groups of finite Morley rank. In this latter context, we deduce a definability result under the assumption of the Definable Multiplicity Property (DMP). We give sufficient conditions for finite Morley rank groups to have the DMP, and hence give examples where our definability result holds.
We show that the generic automorphism is axiomatisable in the green field of Poizat (once Morleyised) as well as in the bad fields which are obtained by collapsing this green field to finite Morley rank. As a corollary, we obtain "bad pseudofinite fields" in characteristic 0. In both cases, we give geometric axioms. In fact, a general framework is presented allowing this kind of axiomatisation. We deduce from various constructibility results for algebraic varieties in characteristic 0 that the green and bad fields fall into this framework. Finally, we give similar results for other theories obtained by Hrushovski amalgamation, e.g. the free fusion of two strongly minimal theories having the definable multiplicity property. We also close a gap in the construction of the bad field, showing that the codes may be chosen to be families of strongly minimal sets.