Existentially closed measure-preserving actions of approximately treeable groups

Given a countable group $\Gamma$, letting $\mathcal{K}_\Gamma$ denote the class of {\pmp} actions of $\Gamma$, we study the question of when the model companion of $\mathcal{K}_\Gamma$ exists. Berenstein, Henson, and Ibarluc\'ia showed that the model companion of $\mathcal{K}_\Gamma$ exists when $\Gamma$ is a nonabelian free group on a countable number of generators. We significantly generalize their result by showing that the model companion of $\cal K_\Gamma$ exists whenever $\Gamma$ is an approximately treeable group. The class of approximately treeable groups contain the class of treeable groups as well as the class of universally free groups, that is, the class of groups with the same universal theory as nonabelian free groups. We prove this result using an open mapping characterization of when the model companion exists; moreover, this open mapping characterization provides concrete, ergodic-theoretic axioms for the model companion when it exists. We show how to simplify these axioms in the case of treeable groups, providing an alternate axiomatization for the model companion in the case of the free group, which was first axiomatized by Berenstein, Henson, and Ibarluc\'ia using techniques from model-theoretic stability theory. Along the way, we prove a purely ergodic-theoretic result of independent interest, namely that finitely generated universally free groups (also known as limit groups) have Kechris' property MD. We also show that for groups with Kechris' EMD property, the profinite completion action is existentially closed, and for groups without property (T), the generic existentially closed action is weakly mixing, generalizing results of Berenstein, Henson, and Ibarluc\'ia for the case of nonabelian free groups.