Model theory is the meta-mathematical study of the concept of mathematical truth. After Afred Tarski coined the term Theory of Models in the early 1950’s, it rapidly became one of the central most active branches of mathematical logic. In the last few decades, ideas that originated within model theory have provided powerful tools to solve problems in a variety of areas of classical mathematics, including algebra, combinatorics, geometry, number theory, and Banach space theory and operator theory. The two volumes of Beyond First Order Model Theory present the reader with a fairly comprehensive vista, rich in width and depth, of some of the most active areas of contemporary research in model theory beyond the realm of the classical first-order viewpoint. Each chapter is intended to serve both as an introduction to a current direction in model theory and as a presentation of results that are not available elsewhere. All the articles are written so that they can be studied independently of one another. This second volume contains introductions to real-valued logic and applications, abstract elementary classes and applications, interconnections between model theory and function spaces, nonstucture theory, and model theory of second-order logic. Features A coherent introduction to current trends in model theory. Contains articles by some of the most influential logicians of the last hundred years. No other publication brings these distinguished authors together. Suitable as a reference for advanced undergraduate, postgraduates, and researchers. Material presented in the book (e.g, abstract elementary classes, first-order logics with dependent sorts, and applications of infinitary logics in set theory) is not easily accessible in the current literature. The various chapters in the book can be studied independently.

This is an up-to-date textbook of model theory taking the reader from first definitions to Morley's theorem and the elementary parts of stability theory. Besides standard results such as the compactness and omitting types theorems, it also describes various links with algebra, including the Skolem-Tarski method of quantifier elimination, model completeness, automorphism groups and omega-categoricity, ultraproducts, O-minimality and structures of finite Morley rank. The material on back-and-forth equivalences, interpretations and zero-one laws can serve as an introduction to applications of model theory in computer science. Each chapter finishes with a brief commentary on the literature and suggestions for further reading. This book will benefit graduate students with an interest in model theory.

Model theory investigates mathematical structures by means of formal languages. So-called first-order languages have proved particularly useful in this respect. This text introduces the model theory of first-order logic, avoiding syntactical issues not too relevant to model theory. In this spirit, the compactness theorem is proved via the algebraically useful ultrsproduct technique (rather than via the completeness theorem of first-order logic). This leads fairly quickly to algebraic applications, like Malcev's local theorems of group theory and, after a little more preparation, to Hilbert's Nullstellensatz of field theory. Steinitz dimension theory for field extensions is obtained as a special case of a much more general model-theoretic treatment of strongly minimal theories. There is a final chapter on the models of the first-order theory of the integers as an abelian group. Both these topics appear here for the first time in a textbook at the introductory level, and are used to give hints to further reading and to recent developments in the field, such as stability (or classification) theory.

Translated from the French, this book is an introduction to first-order model theory. Starting from scratch, it quickly reaches the essentials, namely, the back-and-forth method and compactness, which are illustrated with examples taken from algebra. It also introduces logic via the study of the models of arithmetic, and it gives complete but accessible exposition of stability theory.

Emphasizes the computer science aspects of the subject. Details applications in databases, complexity theory, and formal languages, as well as other branches of computer science.

Finite model theory,as understoodhere, is an areaof mathematicallogic that has developed in close connection with applications to computer science, in particular the theory of computational complexity and database theory. One of the fundamental insights of mathematical logic is that our understanding of mathematical phenomena is enriched by elevating the languages we use to describe mathematical structures to objects of explicit study. If mathematics is the science of patterns, then the media through which we discern patterns, as well as the structures in which we discern them, command our attention. It isthis aspect oflogicwhichis mostprominentin model theory,“thebranchof mathematical logic which deals with the relation between a formal language and its interpretations”. No wonder, then, that mathematical logic, and ?nite model theory in particular, should ?nd manifold applications in computer science: from specifying programs to querying databases, computer science is rife with phenomena whose understanding requires close attention to the interaction between language and structure. This volume gives a broadoverviewof some central themes of ?nite model theory: expressive power, descriptive complexity, and zero–one laws, together with selected applications to database theory and arti?cial intelligence, es- cially constraint databases and constraint satisfaction problems. The ?nal chapter provides a concise modern introduction to modal logic,which emp- sizes the continuity in spirit and technique with ?nite model theory.

This bestselling textbook for higher-level courses was extensively revised in 1990 to accommodate developments in model theoretic methods. Topics include models constructed from constants, ultraproducts, and saturated and special models. 1990 edition.

Model theory is one of the central branches of mathematical logic. The field has evolved rapidly in the last few decades. This book is an introduction to current trends in model theory, and contains a collection of articles authored by top researchers in the field. It is intended as a reference for students as well as senior researchers.

This is a thoroughly revised and enlarged second edition that presents the main results of descriptive complexity theory, that is, the connections between axiomatizability of classes of finite structures and their complexity with respect to time and space bounds. The logics that are important in this context include fixed-point logics, transitive closure logics, and also certain infinitary languages; their model theory is studied in full detail. The book is written in such a way that the respective parts on model theory and descriptive complexity theory may be read independently.