Seminar series
Date
Thu, 30 Apr 2020
11:30
Speaker
Will Johnson
Organisation
Fudan University

The classification of NIP fields is a major open problem in model theory.  This talk will be an overview of an ongoing attempt to classify NIP fields of finite dp-rank.  Let K be an NIP field that is neither finite nor separably closed.  Conjecturally, K admits exactly one definable, valuation-type field topology (V-topology).  By work of Anscombe, Halevi, Hasson, Jahnke, and others, this conjecture implies a full classification of NIP fields.  We will sketch how this technique was used to classify fields of dp-rank 1, and what goes wrong in higher ranks.  At present, there are two main results generalizing the rank 1 case.  First, if K is an NIP field of positive characteristic (and any rank), then K admits at most one definable V-topology.  Second, if K is an unstable NIP field of finite dp-rank (and any characteristic), then K admits at least one definable V-topology.  These statements combine to yield the classification of positive characteristic fields of finite dp-rank. In characteristic 0, things go awry in a surprising way, and it becomes necessary to study a new class of "finite rank" field topologies, generalizing V-topologies.  The talk will include background information on V-topologies, NIP fields, and dp-rank.

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