The generic pair conjecture for dependent finite diagrams (Q2630870)

The generic pair conjecture is the following statement: For every cardinal \(\lambda\) with \(\lambda^+ = 2^{\lambda}\) and \(\lambda^{<\lambda} = \lambda\), a complete first-order theory \(T\) is dependent if and only if whenever \(M\) is a saturated model of size \(\lambda^+\) of \(T\), then after writing \(M = \bigcup_{\alpha < \lambda} M_{\alpha}\), where the \(M_{\alpha}\) are models of size \(\lambda\), there is a club of \(\lambda^+\) such that for every pair \(\alpha < \beta\) of cofinality \(\lambda\) from the club, the pair of models \((M_{\beta},M_{\alpha})\) has the same isomorphism type. The paper has two goals: The first is to serve as an exposition for the proof of the statement in the case where \(\lambda\) is measurable. The second is to deal with finite diagrams instead of theories in case where \(\lambda\) is measurable. The authors start by providing the necessary facts about finite diagrams and about measurable and compact cardinals. They give a precise definition of when a diagram \(D\) is dependent and prove some equivalent definitions for this property. They state the generic pair conjecture for finite diagrams and introduce decompositions of good families. Then, they show that nice decompositions exist and construct tree-type decompositions and self-solvable decompositions. They show that the family of self-solvable decompositions over a saturated model form a good family and deduce the generic pair conjecture. Furthermore, they give an example of an independent theory with some dependent \(D\).