Classification of superstable theories by rank functions (Q1072543)

Using the idea of the Cantor-Bendixson classification of points of a topological space, \textit{M. Morley} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 114, 514-538 (1965; Zbl 0151.011)] introduced a rank notion for types of a complete theory. The rank notion turned out very fruitful, and various analogues of it were introduced by \textit{S. Shelah} [Classification theory (1978; Zbl 0388.03009)], \textit{D. Lascar} [Isr. J. Math. 23, 53-87 (1976; Zbl 0326.02038)], \textit{T. A. Nurmagambetov} [Izv. Akad. Nauk Kaz. SSR, Ser. Fiz.-Mat. 1981, No.5, 47-51 (1981; Zbl 0488.03018)]. The author generalizes the rank notion in the following way. Let T be a complete theory. For \(\omega \leq \lambda_ 2\leq \lambda_ 1\leq \lambda_ 0\leq (\lambda_ 2+| T|)^+\) and a type t with \(| t| <\lambda_ 0\), \(| t-t\upharpoonright \emptyset | <\lambda_ 1\), \(| dom t| <\lambda_ 2\) let \(U^ A_ t\) be the set of all extensions of t to S(A). Then the family of all \(U^ A_ t\) forms a basis of a topology on S(A). For global types p, ordinals \(\alpha\) and \(\chi =<\lambda_ 0,\lambda_ 1,\lambda_ 2,\kappa >\), where \(\kappa\geq \omega\), one can define a relation ''\(R(p,\chi)\geq \alpha\)''. A non-trivial point in the definition is the following: \(R(p,\chi)\geq \alpha +1\) iff \(R(p,\chi)\geq \alpha\) and every neighborhood of p (in the sense of the above topology) contains at least \(\kappa\) types q with \(R(q,\chi)\geq \alpha\). As usual, a type is of rank \(\geq \alpha\) iff it has a global extension of rank \(\geq \alpha\). It turns out that for a stable T the rank introduced is compatible with forking, and the known rank notions can be obtained by varying \(\chi\). Namely, for \(\chi =<\omega,\omega,\omega,\omega >\) one obtains Morley's rank, for \(\chi =<\omega,\omega,\omega,\kappa >\) Shelah's rank \(R(-,L,\kappa^+)\), for \(\chi =<| T|^+,\omega,\omega,\omega >\) Nurmagambetov's rank, for \(\chi =<| T|^+,| T|^+,\omega,\omega >\) Lascar's rank. The author calls a class of superstable theories rank-definable if there is a \(\chi\) such that a theory is in the class iff \(R(p,\chi)<\infty\) for every p. He proves that there are only three rank- definable classes of countable theories: the classes of superstable, \(\omega\)-stable and so-called almost \(\omega\)-stable theories, arising from Nurmagambetov's rank.