Assuming Jensons principle diamond: Whenever B is a totally imperfect set of real numbers, there is special Aronszajn tree with no continuous order preserving map into B.
We study superstable groups acting on trees. We prove that an action of an $omega$-stable group on a simplicial tree is trivial. This shows that an HNN-extension or a nontrivial free product with amalgamation is not $omega$-stable. It is also shown that if $G$ is a superstable group acting nontrivially on a $Lambda$-tree, where $Lambda=mathbb Z$ or $Lambda=mathbb R$, and if $G$ is either $alpha$-connected and $Lambda=mathbb Z$, or if the action is irreducible, then $G$ interprets a simple group having a nontrivial action on a $Lambda$-tree. In particular if $G$ is superstable and splits as $G=G_1*_AG_2$, with the index of $A$ in $G_1$ different from 2, then $G$ interprets a simple superstable non $omega$-stable group. We will deal with minimal superstable groups of finite Lascar rank acting nontrivially on $Lambda$-trees, where $Lambda=mathbb Z$ or $Lambda=mathbb R$. We show that such groups $G$ have definable subgroups $H_1 lhd H_2 lhd G$, $H_2$ is of finite index in $G$, such that if $H_1$ is not nilpotent-by-finite then any action of $H_1$ on a $Lambda$-tree is trivial, and $H_2/H_1$ is either soluble or simple and acts nontrivially on a $Lambda$-tree. We are interested particularly in the case where $H_2/H_1$ is simple and we show that $H_2/H_1$ has some properties similar to those of bad groups.
We prove that if there are $mathfrak c$ incomparable selective ultrafilters then, for every infinite cardinal $kappa$ such that $kappa^omega=kappa$, there exists a group topology on the free Abelian group of cardinality $kappa$ without nontrivial convergent sequences and such that every finite power is countably compact. In particular, there are arbitrarily large countably compact groups. This answers a 1992 question of D. Dikranjan and D. Shakhmatov.
We give a model-theoretic treatment of the fundamental results of Kechris-Pestov-Todorv{c}evi{c} theory in the more general context of automorphism groups of not necessarily countable structures. One of the main points is a description of the universal ambit as a certain space of types in an expanded language. Using this, we recover various results of Kechris-Pestov-Todorv{c}evi{c}, Moore, Ngyuen Van Th{e}, in the context of automorphism groups of not necessarily countable structures, as well as Zucker.
We compare three notions of genericity of separable metric structures. Our analysis provides a general model theoretic technique of showing that structures are generic in descriptive set theoretic (topological) sense and in measure theoretic sense. In particular, it gives a new perspective on Vershiks theorems on genericity and randomness of Urysohns space among separable metric spaces.
We establish a topological duality for bounded lattices. The two main features of our duality are that it generalizes Stone duality for bounded distributive lattices, and that the morphisms on either side are not the standard ones. A positive consequence of the choice of morphisms is that those on the topological side are functional. Towards obtaining the topological duality, we develop a universal construction which associates to an arbitrary lattice two distributive lattice envelopes with a Galois connection between them. This is a modification of a construction of the injective hull of a semilattice by Bruns and Lakser, adjusting their concept of admissibility to the finitary case. Finally, we show that the dual spaces of the distributive envelopes of a lattice coincide with completions of quasi-uniform spaces naturally associated with the lattice, thus giving a precise spatial meaning to the distributive envelopes.