Laver and set theory

In this commemorative article, the work of Richard Laver is surveyed in its full range and extent.Accepted manuscrip

Existence of optimal ultrafilters and the fundamental complexity of simple theories

In the first edition of Classification Theory, the second author characterized the stable theories in terms of saturation of ultrapowers. Prior to this theorem, stability had already been defined in terms of counting types, and the unstable formula theorem was known. A contribution of the ultrapower characterization was that it involved sorting out the global theory, and introducing nonforking, seminal for the development of stability theory. Prior to the present paper, there had been no such characterization of an unstable class. In the present paper, we first establish the existence of so-called optimal ultrafilters on Boolean algebras, which are to simple theories as Keisler's good ultrafilters are to all theories. Then, assuming a supercompact cardinal, we characterize the simple theories in terms of saturation of ultrapowers. To do so, we lay the groundwork for analyzing the global structure of simple theories, in ZFC, via complexity of certain amalgamation patterns. This brings into focus a fundamental complexity in simple unstable theories having no real analogue in stability.Comment: The revisions aim to separate the set theoretic and model theoretic aspects of the paper to make it accessible to readers interested primarily in one side. We thank the anonymous referee for many thoughtful comment

Kurepa trees and the failure of the Galvin property

We force the existence of a non-trivial $\kappa$-complete ultrafilter over $\kappa$ which fails to satisfy the Galvin property. This answers a question asked by the first author and Moti Gitik

A general tool for consistency results related to I1

In this paper we provide a general tool to prove the consistency of $I1(\lambda)$ with various combinatorial properties at $\lambda$ typical at settings with $2^\lambda>\lambda^+$, that does not need a profound knowledge of the forcing notions involved. Examples of such properties are the first failure of GCH, a very good scale and the negation of the approachability property, or the tree property at $\lambda^+$ and $\lambda^{++}$