An important dividing line in the class of unstable theories is being
, which is more general
than being simple. In
theories forking independence may not be as well behaved as in stable
or simple theories, so it is replaced by another independence notion,
called Kim-independence. We generalise Kim-independence over models in
theories to
positive logic — a proper generalisation of full first-order logic where negation is not built
in, but can be added as desired. For example, an important application is that we can add
hyperimaginary sorts to a positive theory to get another positive theory, preserving
and various other properties. We prove that, in a thick positive
theory,
Kim-independence over existentially closed models has all the nice properties that it is known to
have in an
theory
in full first-order logic. We also provide a Kim–Pillay style theorem, characterising which thick
positive theories are
by the existence of a certain independence relation. Furthermore, this independence
relation must then be the same as Kim-independence. Thickness is the mild assumption
that being an indiscernible sequence is type-definable.
In full first-order logic Kim-independence is defined in terms of Morley sequences in
global invariant types. These may not exist in thick positive theories. We solve this by
working with Morley sequences in global Lascar-invariant types, which do exist in thick
positive theories. We also simplify certain tree constructions that were used in the study of
Kim-independence in full first-order logic. In particular, we only work with trees of finite
height.
Keywords
Kim-independence, Kim-dividing, positive logic,
$\mathrm{NSOP}_1$ theory