Essentially periodic ordered groups (Q1591377)

The authors introduce and study a number of notions extending that of an o-minimal group; i.e., they investigate totally ordered groups with certain restrictions on definable subsets. They also prove a number of interesting results relating the different notions. Some but not all of these notions are closed under elementary equivalence. In an earlier paper [J. Symb. Log. 65, No.~3, 1115-1132 (2000; Zbl 0968.03043)], \textit{O. Belegradek, Y. Peterzil} and \textit{F. Wagner} called the complete theory of a totally ordered structure (essentially) quasi-o-minimal if for all models of this theory (after naming constants) any definable set is a Boolean combination of intervals and \(\emptyset\)-definable sets. Among other results, quasi-o-minimal groups were shown to be abelian. In this paper, a totally ordered group is called coset-minimal if every definable subset is a finite union of cosets of subgroups intersected with intervals. The complete theory of an ordered group is called coset-minimal if all its models are. The authors prove that any coset-minimal group is elementarily equivalent to \(\mathbb Z^n\) or to \(\mathbb Z^n\times \mathbb Q\). (The coset-minimality of these structures was established by \textit{V. Weispfenning} [Bull. Soc. Math. Belg., Sér. B 33, 131-155 (1981; Zbl 0499.03012)].) They show furthermore that the theory of \(G\) is coset-minimal if and only if \(G\) is essentially quasi-o-minimal, and for such groups in the discrete case definable functions in one variable are piecewise linear, in the dense case piecewise continuous. Since coverings of a group by cosets of subgroups play a crucial role in these concepts, the following generalization of a lemma by Neumann allows the authors to extend their analysis to more general situations: If some end segment of an ordered group \(G\) is covered by finitely many cosets, then the whole group is covered by those cosets whose corresponding subgroup has finite index. A group is called essentially periodic if for every definable nontrivial convex subgroup \(H\) of \(G\) and every definable set \(X\) in \(G\) there is an interval containing an end segment of \(H\) on which \(X\) is equal to a finite union of cosets of some subgroups. As a further generalization, a group is called ultimately periodic if for every definable convex subgroup \(H\) of \(G\), every definable set \(X\) in \(G\) is ultimately equal in \(H\) to a finite union of cosets of some subgroups. Essentially periodic groups are ultimately periodic and the authors characterize the essentially periodic groups as those ultimately periodic ones for which for every non-trivial proper definable convex subgroup \(H\) the quotient \(G/H\) is discrete. They prove that essentially (or even ultimately) periodic groups are abelian, and if they are discrete, then definable functions in one variable are ultimately piecewise linear.