Models of countable theories

We define and study types of a complete first-order theory T. This concept allows us to refine our analysis of Mod(T). If T has few types, then Mod(T) contains a uniquely defined smallest model that can be elementarily embedded into any structure of Mod(T). We investigate the various properties of these small models in Section 6.3. In Section 6.4, we consider the “big” models of Mod(T). For any theory, the number of types is related to the number of models of the theory. For any cardinal κ, I(T, κ) denotes the number of models in Mod(T) of size κ. We prove two basic facts regarding this cardinal function. In Section 6.5, we show that if T has many types, then I(T, κ) takes on its maximal possible value of 2κ for each infinite κ. In Section 6.6, we prove Vaught’s theorem stating that I(T, ℵ0) cannot equal 2. All formulas are first-order formulas. All theories are sets of first-order sentences. For any structure M, we conveniently refer to an n-tuple of elements from the underlying set of M as an “n-tuple of M.” The notion of a type extends the notion of a theory to include formulas and not just sentences. Whereas theories describe structures, types describe elements within a structure. Definition 6.1 Let M be a ν-structure and let ā = (a1, . . . , an) be an n-tuple of M. The type of ā in M, denoted tpM(ā), is the set of all ν-formulas φ having free variables among x1, . . . , xn that hold in M when each xi in is replaced by ai. More concisely, but less precisely: If ā is an n-tuple, then each formula in tpM(ā) contains at most n free variables but may contain fewer. In particular, the type of an n-tuple contains sentences. For any structure M and tuple ā of M, tpM(ā) contains Th(M) as a subset. The set tpM(ā) provides the complete first-order description of the tuple ā and how it sits in M.