Ranks and pregeometries in finite diagrams (Q1591202)

This work is a chapter of the author's Ph.D. thesis, instructed by Rami Grossberg. It starts with a detailed introduction to the topic (Section 0) and a description of the general context (Section 1). In Section 2, a rank for this framework is defined. It differs from previously studied ranks such that it is allowed to deal with general diagrams and to construct prime models. A digram \(D\) is called totally transcendental, when the rank is bounded. Basic properties of this rank are studied. Via the examination of the natural dependence relation induced by the rank on the subsets of the models, the author obtains many of the classical properties of forking (Definition, Existence, Local character, Invariance under automorphisms, Finite character, Monotonicity, Transitivity, Symmetry, Extension, Uniqueness) and stationary types with respect to this dependence relation. Section 3 deals with the existence of various pregeometries for totally transcendental diagrams. Stationary types of minimal rank are regular. The natural closure operator induces a pregeometry on the set of realizations in any \((D,\aleph_0)\)-homogeneous model. Various applications of both the rank and the pregeometries to the class \({\mathcal K}\) of a \((D,\aleph_0)\)-homogeneous model are considered in Section 4. Its first part deals with the existence of prime models. Following the proof of a so-called two-cardinal theorem for the class \({\mathcal K}\), the author defines the notion of a unidimensional, totally transcendental diagram and proves the equivalence to some other conditions.