Dividing lines in unstable theories and subclasses of Baire 1 functions (Q2085575)

The article under review is part of a series of works of the author establishing a link between various stability-theoretic notions in model theory (such as the IP and SOP) and spaces of functions on compact spaces. This link is achieved by changing the focus of study of these properties by focusing on the combinatorial behavior of formulae in models rather than with respect to the theory itself. One of the main results of the paper is to provide a sharper version of the well-known theorem of Shelah, which states that a theory is unstable if and only if it has the strict order property (SOP) or the independence property (IP). The sharper version presented in this paper replaces the IP with an a priori weaker, local property. This approach allows the author to give a functional analytic interpretation of SOP in terms of Baire class 1 functions. A similar functional analytic statement is made for the NIP. The author then uses the well-known Eberlein-Smulian theorem from functional analysis to give a short proof of Shelah's theorem mentioned above. The author uses this argument to propose a general thesis that dividing lines in model theory should correspond to interesting spaces of functions and presents a roadmap for how this line of research should proceed.