A partial converse to a theorem of Tamari

Let M be a cancellative monoid such that the monoid ring ℤM has no zero divisors. We show that if the monoid consisting of all elements of ℤM with strictly positive coefficients has nonzero common right multiples, then M is left amenable.     

Hereditarily finitely based monoids of extensive transformations

It is shown that the monoid E _n of extensive transformations of a chain of order n is hereditarily finitely based if and only if n ≤ 3. It follows that the submonoid OE _n of order-preserving transformations in E _n is also hereditarily finitely based if and only if n ≤ 3.     

An order topologyfor finitely generated free monoids

In this article a method is given for embedding a finitely generated free monoid as a dense subset of the unit interval. This gives an order topology for the monoid such that the submonoids generated by an important class of maximal codes occur as “thick” subsets. As an ordered topological space, the notion of thickness in a frec monoid can be interpreted in a number of ways. One such notion is that of density. In particular, subsets of a free monoid that fail to meet all two sided ideals (the thin sets, of which recognizable codes are an example) are shown (corollary 4.2) to be nowhere dense. Furthermore, it is shown (corollary 5.1) that a thin code is maximal if and only if the submonoid that it generates is dense on some interval. Thus thin codes that are maximal are precisely those that generate thick submonoids. Another notion of thickness is that of category. The embedding allows the free monoid to be viewed as a subspace of the unit interval. In theorem 5.6 it is shown that a thin code is maximal just in case the closure of the submonoid that it generates is second category in the unit interval. A mild connection with Lebesque measure is then made. In what follows, all free monoids are assumed to be generated by a finite set of at least two elements. IfA is such a set, thenA ^* denotes the free monoid generated byA. The setA is called an alphabet, the elements ofA ^* are called words, ande denotes the empty word inA ^*. Topological terminology and notation follows that of Kelley [2].     

Maximal subgroups of the minimal ideal of a free profinite monoid are free

We answer a question of Margolis from 1997 by establishing that the maximal subgroup of the minimal ideal of a finitely generated free profinite monoid is a free profinite group. More generally, if H is variety of finite groups closed under extension and containing ℤ/pℤ for infinitely may primes p, the corresponding result holds for free pro-$ \bar H $ \bar H monoids.     

A Note on Almost GCD Monoids

A commutative cancellative monoid H (with 0 adjoined) is called an almost GCD (AGCD) monoid if for x,y in H, there exists a natural number n = n(x,y) so that xⁿ and yⁿ have an LCM, that is, xⁿH \cap yⁿH is principal. We relate AGCD monoids to the recently introduced inside factorial monoids (there is a subset Q of H so that the submonoid F of H generated by Q and the units of H is factorial and some power of each element of H is in F). For example, we show that an inside factorial monoid H is an AGCD monoid if and only if the elements of Q are primary in H, or equivalently, H is weakly Krull, distinct elements of Q are v-coprime in H, or the radical of each element of Q is a maximal t-ideal of H. Conditions are given for an AGCD monoid to be inside factorial and the results are put in the context of integral domains.     

Arithmetical characterization of class groups of the form ℤ/<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>ℤ<Emphasis Type="Italic">⊕</Emphasis>ℤ/<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>ℤ via the system of sets of lengths

Let H be a Krull monoid with finite class group such that each class contains a prime divisor (e.g., the multiplicative monoid of the ring of algebraic integers of some number field). It is shown that it can be determined whether the class group is of the form ℤ/nℤ⊕ℤ/nℤ, for n≥3, just by considering the system of sets of lengths of H. Supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF (Project P18779-N13).     

The bieri-strebel invariant and homological finiteness conditions for metabelian groups

A group Γ has type F P_n if a trivial ℤΓ-module ℤ has a projective resolution P:…P_n → … → P₁ → P₀ → ℤ in which ℤΓ-module P_n,…P₁, P₀ are finitely generated. Let the finitely generated group Γ be a split extension of the Abelian group M by an Abelian group Q, suppose M is torsion free, and assume Γ∈F P_m, m≥2. Then the invariant ∑ _c ^M is m-tame. Translated fromAlgebra i Logika, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 194–218, March–April, 1997.     

Gr?bner bases in difference-differential modules and difference-differential dimension polynomials

In this paper we extend the theory of Gr?bner bases to difference-differential modules and present a new algorithmic approach for computing the Hilbert function of a finitely generated difference-differential module equipped with the natural filtration. We present and verify algorithms for constructing these Gr?bner bases counterparts. To this aim we introduce the concept of “generalized term order” on ℕ ^m ×ℤ ⁿ and on difference-differential modules. Using Gr?bner bases on difference-differential modules we present a direct and algorithmic approach to computing the difference-differential dimension polynomials of a difference-differential module and of a system of linear partial difference-differential equations. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 60473019) and the KLMM (Grant No. 0705)     

Fixed points of endomorphisms of trace monoids

It is proved that the fixed point submonoid and the periodic point submonoid of a trace monoid endomorphism are always finitely generated. If the dependence alphabet is a transitive forest, it is proved that the set of regular fixed points of the (Scott) continuous extension of an endomorphism to real traces is Ω-rational for every endomorphism if and only if the monoid is a free product of free commutative monoids.     

Affine linear sieve, expanders, and sum-product

Let O\mathcal{O} be an orbit in ℤ ⁿ of a finitely generated subgroup Λ of GL _n (ℤ) whose Zariski closure Zcl(Λ) is suitably large (e.g. isomorphic to SL₂). We develop a Brun combinatorial sieve for estimating the number of points on O\mathcal{O} at which a fixed integral polynomial is prime or has few prime factors, and discuss applications to classical problems, including Pythagorean triangles and integral Apollonian packings. A fundamental role is played by the expansion property of the “congruence graphs” that we associate with O\mathcal{O} . This expansion property is established when Zcl(Λ)=SL₂, using crucially sum-product theorem in ℤ/qℤ for q square-free.     

Largeness of the set of finite products in a semigroup

We investigate when the set of finite products of distinct terms of a sequence 〈x _n 〉 _n=1^∞ in a semigroup (S,⋅) is large in any of several standard notions of largeness. These include piecewise syndetic, central, syndetic, central*, and IP*. In the case of a “nice” sequence in (S,⋅)=(ℕ,+) one has that FS(〈x _n 〉 _n=1^∞) has any or all of the first three properties if and only if {x _n+1−∑ _t=1 ⁿ x _t :n∈ℕ} is bounded from above. N. Hindman acknowledges support received from the National Science Foundation via Grant DMS-0554803.     

Entire functions having a concordant value sequence

A classic theorem of Pólya shows that 2 ^z is, in a strong sense, the “smallest” transcendental entire function that is integer valued on ℕ. An analogous result of Gel’fond concerns entire functions that are integer valued on the setX _a={a ⁿ:n ∈ ℕ}, wherea ∈ ℕ,|a|≥ 2. LetX=ℕ orX=X _a andκ ∈ ℕ orκ=∞. This paper pursues analogous results for entire functionsf having the following property: on any finite subsetD ofX with#D≤κ+1, the valuesf(z),z ∈D admit interpolation by an element of ℤ[z]. The results obtained assert that if the growth off is suitably restricted then the restriction off toX must be a polynomial. WhenX=X _a andκ<∞ a “smallest” transcendental entire function having the requisite property is constructed.     

The Catenary and Tame Degree in Finitely Generated Commutative Cancellative Monoids

Problems involving chains of irreducible factorizations in atomic integral domains and monoids have been the focus of much recent literature. If S is a commutative cancellative atomic monoid, then the catenary degree of S (denoted c(S)) and the tame degree of S (denoted t(S)) are combinatorial invariants of S which describe the behavior of chains of factorizations. In this note, we describe methods to compute both c(S) and t(S) when M is a finitely generated commutative cancellative monoid.     

Quotients of the unit ball of ℂn for a free action of ℤ

LetB _n be the unit ball of ℂⁿ and ℤ ≅ Γ ⊂ AutB _n be generated by a parabolic element of AutB _n. We show that the quotientB _n/Γ is biholomorphic to a holomorphically convex domain of ℂⁿ, whose automorphism group is explicity described. It follows thatB _n/ℤ is Stein for any free action of ℤ. Investigation partially supported by University of Bologna. Funds for selected research topics. The second author was supported by an Instituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica grant.     

A note about the truncation question in percolation of words

Consider an independent site percolation model on ℤ², with parameter p, equipped with all horizontal and vertical connections. In this note it is shown that given for any parameter p ∈ (0, 1), there exists an integer N such that any binary sequence (word) ξ ∈ {0, 1}^ℕ is seen, almost surely, even if all connections whose length is bigger than N are suppressed. *Partially supported by CNPq.     

On the pontryagin-steenrod-wu theorem

We present a short and direct proof (based on the Pontryagin-Thom construction) of the following Pontryagin-Steenrod-Wu theorem: (a) LetM be a connected orientable closed smooth (n + 1)-manifold,n≥3. Define the degree map deg: π ⁿ (M) →H ⁿ (M; ℤ) by the formula degf =f*[S ⁿ ], where [S ⁿ ] εH ⁿ (M; ℤ) is the fundamental class. The degree map is bijective, if there existsβ εH ₂(M, ℤ/2ℤ) such thatβ ·w ₂(M) ε 0. If suchβ does not exist, then deg is a 2-1 map; and (b) LetM be an orientable closed smooth (n+2)-manifold,n≥3. An elementα lies in the image of the degree map if and only ifρ ₂ α ·w ₂(M)=0, whereρ ₂: ℤ → ℤ/2ℤ is reduction modulo 2.     

On the degree of iterates of automorphisms¶of the affine plane

For a polynomial automorphism f of ?² _ℂ, we set τ = deg f ²)/(deg f). We prove that τ≤ 1 if and only if f is triangularizable. In this situation, we show (by using a deep result from number theory known as the theorem of Skolem–Mahler–Lech) that the sequence (deg f ⁿ ) _{n ∈ℕ} is periodic for large n. In the opposite case, we prove that τ is an integer (τ≥ 2) and that the sequence (deg f ⁿ ) _{n ∈ℕ} is a geometric progression of ratio τ. In particular, if f is any automorphism, we obtain the rationality of the formal series . Received: 1 December 1997     

Strong representations of the polycyclic inverse monoids: Cycles and atoms

This paper was inspired by a monograph by Bratteli and Jorgensen, and the work of Kawamura. We introduce two new semigroups: a wide inverse submonoid of the polycyclic inverse monoid, called the gauge inverse monoid, and a Zappa-Szép product of an arbitrary free monoid with the free monoid on one generator. Both these monoids play an important role in studying arbitrary, not necessarily transitive, strong actions of polycyclic inverse monoids. As a special case of such actions, we obtain some new results concerning the strong actions of P ₂ on ℤ determined by the choice of one positive odd number. We explain the role played by Lyndon words in characterising these repesentations and show that the structure of the representation can be explained by studying the binary representations of the numbers $\frac{1} {p},\frac{2} {p}, \ldots \frac{{p - 1}} {p}$\frac{1} {p},\frac{2} {p}, \ldots \frac{{p - 1}} {p}. We also raise some questions about strong representations of the polycyclic monoids on free abelian groups.     

Coset Decomposition of Positively Self-Conjugate Inverse Submonoids of Polycyclic Monoids

Abstract. We obtain several new results about the coding of a monoid by an appropriate submonoid of a polycyclic monoid. In particular, we characterize groups, periodic monoids, and right cancellative monoids in terms of the coset decomposition of positively self-conjugate inverse submonoids of polycyclic monoids.