A Banach space is said to be $H{D}_n$ if the maximal number of subspaces of X forming a direct sum is finite and equal to n. We study some properties of $H{D}_n$ spaces, and their links with hereditarily indecomposable spaces; in particular, we show that if X is complex $H{D}_n$, then dim $(ℒ\left(X\right)/S\left(X\right))\le n^2$, where S(X) denotes the space of strictly singular operators on X. It follows that if X is a real hereditarily indecomposable space, then ℒ(X)/S(X) is a division ring isomorphic either to ℝ, ℂ, or ℍ, the quaternionic division ring....

We introduce higher order spreading models associated to a Banach space X. Their definition is based on ℱ-sequences ${\left(x_s\right)}_{s\in ℱ}$ with ℱ a regular thin family and on plegma families. We show that the higher order spreading models of a Banach space X form an increasing transfinite hierarchy ${\left({ℳ}_{\xi }\left(X\right)\right)}_{\xi <\omega ₁}$. Each ${ℳ}_{\xi }\left(X\right)$ contains all spreading models generated by ℱ-sequences ${\left(x_s\right)}_{s\in ℱ}$ with order of ℱ equal to ξ. We also study the fundamental properties of this hierarchy.