On the uniqueness property of forking in abstract elementary classes

Abstract

In the setup of abstract elementary classes satisfying a local version of superstability, we prove the uniqueness property for $\mu$-forking, a certain independence notion arising from splitting. This had been a longstanding technical difficulty when constructing forking-like notions in this setup. As an application, we show that the two versions of forking symmetry appearing in the literature (the one defined by Shelah for good frames and the one defined by VanDieren for splitting) are equivalent.