English

A footnote to the KPT theorem in structural Ramsey theory

Logic 2025-12-08 v1 Combinatorics

Abstract

The celebrated theorem of Kechris, Pestov and Todor\v{c}evi\'c connecting structural Ramsey theory with topological dynamics has as a consequence that the Fra\"{\i}ss\'e limit of a Ramsey class of non-trivial finite relational structures has a reduct which is a total order; this implies an earlier result of Ne\v{s}et\v{r}il, according to which the structures in such a class are rigid (have trivial automorphism groups). In this paper, we give an alternative proof of this fact. If C\mathcal{C} is a Fra\"{\i}ss\'e class of rigid structures over a finite relational language, then either the Fra\"{\i}ss\'e limit of C\mathcal{C} has a reduct which is a total order, or there is an explicit failure of the Ramsey property involving a pair (A,B)(A,B) of structures in C\mathcal{C} with A=2|A|=2.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.05684,
  title  = {A footnote to the KPT theorem in structural Ramsey theory},
  author = {Peter J. Cameron and Siavash Lashkarighouchani},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.05684},
  year   = {2025}
}