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A new proof of Ajtai's completeness theorem for nonstandard finite structures

Publication at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics |
2015

Abstract

Ajtai's completeness theorem roughly states that a countable structure A coded in a model of arithmetic can be end-extended and expanded to a model of a given theory G if and only if a contradiction cannot be derived by a (possibly nonstandard) proof from G plus the diagram of A, provided that the proof is definable in A and contains only formulas of a standard length. The existence of such model extensions is closely related to questions in complexity theory.

In this paper we give a new proof of Ajtai's theorem using basic techniques of model theory.