On first-order sentences without finite models

Abstract

We will mainly be concerned with a result which refutes a stronger variant of a conjecture of Macpherson about finitely axiomatizable ω-categorical theories. Then we prove a result which implies that the ω-categorical stable pseudoplanes of Hrushovski do not have the finite submodel property.Let's call a consistent first-order sentence without finite models an axiom of infinity. Can we somehow describe the axioms of infinity? Two standard examples are:ϕ1: A first-order sentence which expresses that a binary relation < on a nonempty universe is transitive and irreflexive and that for every x there is y such that x < y.ϕ2: A first-order sentence which expresses that there is a unique x such that, (0) for every y, s(y) ≠ x (where s is a unary function symbol),and, for every x, if x does not satisfy (0) then there is a unique y such that s(y) = x.Every complete theory T such that ϕ1 ϵ T has the strict order property (as defined in [10]), since the formula x < y will have the strict order property for T. Let's say that if Ψ is an axiom of infinity and every complete theory T with Ψ ϵ T has the strict order property, then Ψ has the strict order property.Every complete theory T such that ϕ2 ϵ T is not ω-categorical. This is the case because a complete theory T without finite models is ω-categorical if and only if, for every 0 < n < ω, there are only finitely many formulas in the variables x1,…,xn, up to equivalence, in any model of T.