A definable $(p,q)$-theorem for NIP theories

Abstract

We prove a definable version of Matou\v{s}ek's $(p,q)$-theorem in NIP theories. This answers a question of Chernikov and Simon. We also prove a uniform version. The proof builds on a proof of Boxall and Kestner who proved this theorem in the distal case, utilizing the notion of locally compressible types which appeared in the work of the author with Bays and Simon.