Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 July 2019
We establish the first global results for groups definable in tame expansions of o-minimal structures. Let ${\mathcal{N}}$ be an expansion of an o-minimal structure ${\mathcal{M}}$ that admits a good dimension theory. The setting includes dense pairs of o-minimal structures, expansions of ${\mathcal{M}}$ by a Mann group, or by a subgroup of an elliptic curve, or a dense independent set. We prove: (1) a Weil’s group chunk theorem that guarantees a definable group with an o-minimal group chunk is o-minimal, (2) a full characterization of those definable groups that are o-minimal as those groups that have maximal dimension; namely, their dimension equals the dimension of their topological closure, (3) as an application, if ${\mathcal{N}}$ expands ${\mathcal{M}}$ by a dense independent set, then every definable group is o-minimal.
The research was supported by an Independent Research Grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and a Zukunftskolleg Research Fellowship.