Exact saturation in simple and NIP theories

Abstract

A theory $T$ is said to have exact saturation at a singular cardinal $\kappa$ if it has a $\kappa$-saturated model which is not $\kappa^{+}$-saturated. We show, under some set-theoretic assumptions, that any simple theory has exact saturation. Also, an NIP theory has exact saturation if and only if it is not distal. This gives a new characterization of distality.