Dedekind Completeness and the Algebraic Complexity of o-Minimal Structures

Abstract

AbstractAn ordered structure is o-minimal if every definable subset is the union of finitely many points and open intervals. A theory is o-minimal if all its models are ominimal. All theories considered will be o-minimal. A theory is said to be n-ary if every formula is equivalent to a Boolean combination of formulas in n free variables. (A 2-ary theory is called binary.) We prove that if a theory is not binary then it is not rc-ary for any n. We also characterize the binary theories which have a Dedekind complete model and those whose underlying set order is dense. In [5], it is shown that if T is a binary theory, is a Dedekind complete model of T, and I is an interval in , then for all cardinals K there is a Dedekind complete elementary extension of , so that . In contrast, we show that if T is not binary and is a Dedekind complete model of T, then there is an interval I in so that if is a Dedekind complete elementary extension of .