Model theory of Steiner triple systems

Abstract

A Steiner triple system (STS) is a set [Formula: see text] together with a collection [Formula: see text] of subsets of [Formula: see text] of size 3 such that any two elements of [Formula: see text] belong to exactly one element of [Formula: see text]. It is well known that the class of finite STS has a Fraïssé limit [Formula: see text]. Here, we show that the theory [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] is the model completion of the theory of STSs. We also prove that [Formula: see text] is not small and it has quantifier elimination, [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], elimination of hyperimaginaries and weak elimination of imaginaries.