Simplicity and uncountable categoricity in excellent classes

We introduce Lascar strong types in excellent classes and prove that they coincide with the orbits of the group generated by automorphisms fixing a model. We define a new independence relation using Lascar strong types and show that it is well-behaved over models, as well as over finite sets. We then develop simplicity (when this independence relation has local character) and show that, under simplicity, the independence relation satisfies all the properties of nonforking in a stable first order theory. Further, simplicity for an excellent class, as well as the independence relation itself, is uniquely determined. Finally, we show that an excellent class is simple if and only if it has extensible U -rank (excellence does not imply simplicity in general). We deduce that any excellent class of finite U -rank is simple, and that any uncountably categorical excellent class has an expansion with countably many constants which is simple.