Existence of States on Pseudoeffect Algebras

Pseudoeffect (PE) algebras have been introduced as a noncommutative generalization of effect algebras. We study in this paper PE algebras with the special property of having a nonempty state space. To this end, we consider PE algebras which are po-group intervals and which are, in a certain sense, noncommutative only in the small. Such a PE algebra is shown to possess a nontrivial commutative homomorphic image from which then follows that there exist states. A typical example is given by an interval of the lexicographical product of two po-groups the first of which is abelian.