We assume the existence of a supercompact cardinal and produce a model with weak square but no very good scale at a particular cardinal. This follows work of Cummings, Foreman, and Magidor, but uses a different approach. We produce another model, starting from countably many supercompact cardinals, where □K,<K holds but □K, λ fails for λ < K.

The Guarded Negation Fragment (GNFO) is a fragment of first-order logic that contains all positive existential formulas, can express the first-order translations of basic modal logic and of many description logics, along with many sentences that arise in databases. It has been shown that the syntax of GNFO is restrictive enough so that computational problems such as validity and satisfiability are still decidable. This suggests that, in spite of its expressive power, GNFO formulas are amenable to novel optimizations. In this article we study the model theory of GNFO formulas. Our results include effective preservation theorems for GNFO, effective Craig Interpolation and Beth Definability results, and the ability to express the certain answers of queries with respect to a large class of GNFO sentences within very restricted logics.

We consider Minkowski spacetime, the set of all point-events of spacetime under the relation of causal accessibility. That is, x can access y if an electromagnetic or (slower than light) mechanical signal could be sent from x to y. We use Prior’s tense language of F and P representing causal accessibility and its converse relation. We consider two versions, one where the accessibility relation is reflexive and one where it is irreflexive. In either case it has been an open problem, for decades, whether the logic is decidable or axiomatisable. We make a small step forward by proving, in each case, that the set of valid formulas over two-dimensional Minkowski spacetime is decidable and that the complexity of each problem is PSPACE-complete.

A consequence is that the temporal logic of intervals with real endpoints under either the containment relation or the strict containment relation is PSPACE-complete, the same is true if the interval accessibility relation is “each endpoint is not earlier”, or its irreflexive restriction.

We provide a temporal formula that distinguishes between three-dimensional and two-dimensional Minkowski spacetime and another temporal formula that distinguishes the two-dimensional case where the underlying field is the real numbers from the case where instead we use the rational numbers.

Given two structures and on the same domain, we say that is a reduct of if all -definable relations of are -definable in . In this article the reducts of the Henson digraphs are classified. Henson digraphs are homogeneous countable digraphs that omit some set of finite tournaments. As the Henson digraphs are -categorical, determining their reducts is equivalent to determining the closed supergroups G ≤ Sym(ℕ) of their automorphism groups.

A consequence of the classification is that there are pairwise noninterdefinable Henson digraphs which have no proper nontrivial reducts. Taking their automorphisms groups gives a positive answer to a question of Macpherson that asked if there are pairwise nonconjugate maximal-closed subgroups of Sym(ℕ). By the reconstruction results of Rubin, these groups are also nonisomorphic as abstract groups.

We study random relational structures that are relatively exchangeable—that is, whose distributions are invariant under the automorphisms of a reference structure . When is ultrahomogeneous and has trivial definable closure, all random structures relatively exchangeable with respect to satisfy a general Aldous–Hoover-type representation. If also satisfies the n-disjoint amalgamation property (n-DAP) for all , then relatively exchangeable structures have a more precise description whereby each component depends locally on .

A set is n-generic for a positive integer n if and only if every formula of G is decided by a finite initial segment of G in the sense of Cohen forcing. It is shown here that every n-generic set G is properly in some G-recursive X. As a corollary, we also prove that for every and every n-generic set G there exists a G-recursive X which is generalized but not generalized . Thus we confirm two conjectures of Jockusch [4].

In this article we study the systems KF and VF of truth over set theory as well as related systems and compare them with the corresponding systems over arithmetic.

We investigate the class of bipartite Borel graphs organized by the order of Borel homomorphism. We show that this class is unbounded by finding a jump operator for Borel graphs analogous to a jump operator of Louveau for Borel equivalence relations. The proof relies on a nonseparation result for iterated Fréchet ideals and filters due to Debs and Saint Raymond. We give a new proof of this fact using effective descriptive set theory. We also investigate an analogue of the Friedman-Stanley jump for Borel graphs. This analogue does not yield a jump operator for bipartite Borel graphs. However, we use it to answer a question of Kechris and Marks by showing that there is a Borel graph with no Borel homomorphism to a locally countable Borel graph, but each of whose connected components has a countable Borel coloring.

Using methods from computable analysis, we establish a new connection between two seemingly distant areas of logic: computable structure theory and invariant descriptive set theory. We extend several fundamental results of computable structure theory to the more general setting of topological group actions. As we will see, the usual action of on the space of structures in a given language is effective in a certain algorithmic sense that we need, and itself carries a natural computability structure (to be defined). Among other results, we give a sufficient condition for an orbit under effective -action of a computable Polish to split into infinitely many disjoint effective orbits. Our results are not only more general than the respective results in computable structure theory, but they also tend to have proofs different from (and sometimes simpler than) the previously known proofs of the respective prototype results.

We present a logical and algebraic description of right adjoint functors between generalized quasi-varieties, inspired by the work of McKenzie on category equivalence. This result is achieved by developing a correspondence between the concept of adjunction and a new notion of translation between relative equational consequences.

We continue our study of the class , where D is a uniform ultrafilter on a cardinal κ and is the class of all pairs , where is the cofinality of a cut in and J is some -saturated dense linear order. We give a combinatorial characterization of the class . We also show that if and D is -complete or , then .

In the framework of Bishop’s constructive mathematics we introduce co-convexity as a property of subsets B of , the set of finite binary sequences, and prove that co-convex bars are uniform. Moreover, we establish a canonical correspondence between detachable subsets B of and uniformly continuous functions f defined on the unit interval such that B is a bar if and only if the corresponding function f is positive-valued, B is a uniform bar if and only if f has positive infimum, and B is co-convex if and only if f satisfies a weak convexity condition.

Let A ≤ B be structures, and a class of structures. An element b ∈ B is dominated by A relative to if for all and all homomorphisms g, g' : B → C such that g and g' agree on A, we have gb = g'b. Our main theorem states that if is closed under ultraproducts, then A dominates b relative to if and only if there is a partial function F definable by a primitive positive formula in such that FB(a1,…,an) = b for some a1,…,an ∈ A. Applying this result we show that a quasivariety of algebras with an n-ary near-unanimity term has surjective epimorphisms if and only if has surjective epimorphisms. It follows that if is a finite set of finite algebras with a common near-unanimity term, then it is decidable whether the (quasi)variety generated by has surjective epimorphisms.

We consider definable topological dynamics for NIP groups admitting certain decompositions in terms of specific classes of definably amenable groups. For such a group, we find a description of the Ellis group of its universal definable flow. This description shows that the Ellis group is of bounded size. Under additional assumptions, it is shown to be independent of the model, proving a conjecture proposed by Newelski. Finally we apply the results to new classes of groups definable in o-minimal structures, generalizing all of the previous results for this setting.

It is shown that need not be solid in the sense previously introduced by the authors: it is consistent that there is no inner model with a Woodin cardinal yet there is an inner model W and a Cohen real x over W such that . However, if does not exist and is a cardinal, then is solid. We draw the conclusion that solidity is not forcing absolute in general, and that under the assumption of , the core model is contained in the solid core, previously introduced by the authors.

It is also shown, assuming does not exist, that if there is a forcing that preserves , forces that every real has a sharp, and increases , then is measurable in K.

Supercompact extender based forcings are used to construct models with HOD cardinal structure different from those of V. In particular, a model where all regular uncountable cardinals are measurable in HOD is constructed.

We investigate the property of strict coherence in the setting of many-valued logics. Our main results read as follows: (i) a map from an MV-algebra to [0,1] is strictly coherent if and only if it satisfies Carnap’s regularity condition, and (ii) a [0,1]-valued book on a finite set of many-valued events is strictly coherent if and only if it extends to a faithful state of an MV-algebra that contains them. Remarkably this latter result allows us to relax the rather demanding conditions for the Shimony-Kemeny characterisation of strict coherence put forward in the mid 1950s in this Journal.

We use quasi-orders to describe the structure of C-groups. We do this by associating a quasi-order to each compatible C-relation of a group, and then give the structure of such quasi-ordered groups. We also reformulate in terms of quasi-orders some results concerning C-minimal groups given in [5].

The shift map σ on ω* is the continuous self-map of ω* induced by the function n ↦ n + 1 on ω. Given a compact Hausdorff space X and a continuous function f : X → X, we say that (X, f) is a quotient of (ω*, σ) whenever there is a continuous surjection Q : ω*→ X such that Q ○ σ = σ ○ f.

Our main theorem states that if the weight of X is at most ℵ1, then (X, f) is a quotient of (ω*, σ), if and only if f is weakly incompressible (which means that no nontrivial open U ⊆ X has ). Under CH, this gives a complete characterization of the quotients of (ω*, σ) and implies, for example, that (ω*, σ−1) is a quotient of (ω*, σ).

In the language of topological dynamics, our theorem states that a dynamical system of weight ℵ1 is an abstract ω-limit set if and only if it is weakly incompressible.

We complement these results by proving (1) our main theorem remains true when ℵ1 is replaced by any κ < p, (2) consistently, the theorem becomes false if we replace ℵ1 by ℵ2, and (3) OCA + MA implies that (ω*, σ−1) is not a quotient of (ω*, σ).

We provide algebraic conditions ensuring the decidability of the theory of modules over effectively given Prüfer (in particular Bézout) domains with infinite residue fields in terms of a suitable generalization of the prime radical relation. For Bézout domains these conditions are also necessary.