Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 March 2014
The concept of model completeness has been very useful in model theory. In this article we obtain a new model theoretic tool by “reversing the arrows.” Specifically, model completeness deals with the relations between a model of a theory and its extensions; in this paper we shall be concerned with the relation between a model of a theory and its homomorphic pre-images.
This work is based on the intuitive principle that metamathematical theorems about universal sentences of the lower predicate calculus and substructures can be translated in a truth-preserving way to theorems about positive sentences and homomorphic images. From model completeness and the completeness theorems which depend on it, this translation gives new criteria for completeness.
Special thanks are due to Professor A. Robinson whose encouragement and suggestions have contributed much to these results.