Model Theory Seminar

February 22
Rebecca Coulson, West Point Military Academy
Finite constraint: A combinatorial concept with logical applications

In their 2004 seminal paper, 'Fraisse Limits, Ramsey Theory, and Topological Dynamics of Automorphism Groups,' Kechris, Pestov, and Todorcevic, tied together the fields of model theory, Ramsey theory, descriptive set theory, and topological dynamics, via the concept of homogeneity. A key tool used is a combinatorial concept called finite constraint. We will show that a class of graphs called metrically homogeneous graphs, of interest to model theorists and combinatorialists, is finitely constrained, and we show how this is used to derive a whole host of topological and topological dynamical consequences.