A note on Łoś's Theorem without the Axiom of Choice

Abstract: We study some topics about \L o\'s's theorem without assuming the Axiom of Choice. We prove that \L o\'s's fundamental theorem of ultraproducts is equivalent to a weak form that every ultrapower is elementary equivalent to its source structure. On the other hand, it is consistent that there is a structure $M$ and an ultrafilter $U$ such that the ultrapower of $M$ by $U$ is elementary equivalent to $M$, but the fundamental theorem for the ultrapower of $M$ by $U$ fails. We also show that weak fragments of the Axiom of Choice, such as the Countable Choice, do not follow from \L o\'s's theorem, even assuming the existence of non-principal ultrafilters.