Bounded orbits and measures on a group (Q1758979): Difference between revisions

If \(G\) is (an expansion of) a group, then the action of \(G\) on itself by left translation naturally gives an action of \(G\) on the set of complete types over \(G\). The author is interested in bounded orbits of this action when \(G\) is a monster model of its own theory, that is, \(\kappa\)-saturated and strongly \(\kappa\)-homogeneous for some large cardinal \(\kappa\); bounded usually means of cardinal smaller than \(\kappa\). In the first section the author discusses the question whether the existence of a bounded orbit is a property of the theory, i.e., does not depend on \(\kappa\) eventually. He introduces the Hanf number for this question and points out related problems, some of which have been solved somehow negatively in [\textit{J. T. Baldwin} and \textit{S. Shelah}, Fundam. Math. 213, No. 3, 255--270 (2011; Zbl 1254.03072)]. In the second section, he considers the smallest generalized connected component usually considered in model theory, that is, \(G^{\infty}\). We say that \(G^{\infty}\) exists when \(G_A^{\infty}=G_{\emptyset}^{\infty}\) for all small subsets \(A\) of \(G\), where \(G_A^{\infty}\) denotes the smallest subgroup of bounded exponent of \(G\) invariant under all automorphisms of \(G\) fixing \(A\) pointwise. After proving that the existence of \(G^{\infty}\) does not depend on the monster model and does not depend on the underlying set-theoretical universe, the author proves that \(G^{\infty}\) exists provided \(G\) is \(\kappa^{+}\)-saturated and the orbit of a type over \(G\) has cardinal strictly less than \(2^{\kappa}\). In the final section, the author considers the action of \(G\) on the space of types over \(G\) from his viewpoint on topological dynamics in a definable context, incorporating also his nice theory of weakly generic sets or types of a group. When the set of weakly generic types is bounded, he bounds its cardinal absolutely (model-theoretically and set-theoretically) by \(2^{2^{\aleph_0}}\). Using descriptive set-theoretic arguments, he proves that when the set of weakly generic types has a cardinality absolutely bounded by \(2^{\aleph_0}\), there is a countably stationary weakly generic type. He proves in this case that there is a finitely additive left-invariant Keisler measure on definable subsets of \(G\) (a lifting of the Haar measure on \(G/G^{\infty}=G/G^{00}\)). All of this applies in particular in groups with NIP theories and with fsg (bounded number of generic types), generalizing thus the definable amenability of such groups from [\textit{E. Hrushovski, Y. Peterzil} and \textit{A. Pillay}, J. Am. Math. Soc. 21, No. 2, 563--596 (2008; Zbl 1134.03024)].