A (2, 11) combinatorial groupoid

The variety of groupoids defined by the identitites (yx)x = xy and ((xy)(yx))(xy) = y has the properties that every groupoid generated by two elements is of order 11. The two generating identities imply others with a wide variety of combinatorial implications.     

Quasigroups and tactical systems

A quasigroupQ is a set together with a binary operation which satisfies the condition that any two elements of the equationxy =z uniquely determines the third. A quasigroup is in indempotent when any elementx satisfies the indentityxx =x. Several types of Tactical Systems are defined as arrangement of points into “blocks” in such a way as to balance the incidence of (ordered or unordered) pairs of points, and shown to be coexistent with idempotent quasigroups satisfying certain identifies. In particular the correspondences given are: 1. totally symmetric idempotent quasigroups and Steiner triple systems, 2. semi-symmetric idempotent quasigroups and directed triple systems, 3. idempotent quasigroups satisfying Schröder's Second Law, namely (xy)(yx)=x, and triple tourna-ments, and 4. idempotent quasigroups satisfying Stein's Third Law, namely (xy)(yx)=y, and directed tournaments. These correspondences are used to obtain corollaries on the existence of such quasig-roups from constructions of the Tactical Systems. In particular this provides a counterexample to an ”almost conjecture“ of Norton and Stein (1956) concerning the existence of those quasigroups in 3 and 4 above. Indeed no idempotent qnasigroups satisfying Stein's Third Law and with order divisible by four were known to N. S. Mendelsohn when he wrote a paper on such quasigroups for the Third Waterloo Conference on Combinatorics (May, 1968). Finally, a construction for triple tournaments is interpreted as a Generalized Semi-Direct Product of idempotent quasigroups.     

Commutativity of rings with derivations

I. N. Herstein [10] proved that a prime ring of characteristic not two with a nonzero derivation d satisfying d(x)d(y) = d(y)d(x) for all x, y must be commutative, and H. E. Bell and M. N. Daif [8] showed that a prime ring of arbitrary characteristic with nonzero derivation d satisfying d(xy) = d(yx) for all x, y in some nonzero ideal must also be commutative. For semiprime rings, we show that an inner derivation satisfying the condition of Bell and Daif on a nonzero ideal must be zero on that ideal, and for rings with identity, we generalize all three results to conditions on derivations of powers and powers of derivations. For example, let R be a prime ring with identity and nonzero derivation d, and let m and n be positive integers such that, when charR is finite, m ∨ n < charR. If d(x ^m y ⁿ ) = d(y ⁿ x ^m ) for all x, y ∈ R, then R is commutative. If, in addition, charR≠ 2 and the identity is in the image of an ideal I under d, then d(x) ^m d(y) ⁿ = d(y) ⁿ d(x) ^m for all x, y ∈ I also implies that R is commutative.     

Semigroup identities and proofs

Tamura proved that for any semigroup word U(x, y), if every group satisfying an identity of the form yx ~ xU(x, y)y is abelian, then so is every semigroup that satisfies that identity. Because a group has an identity element and the cancellation property, it is easier to show that a group is abelian than that a semigroup is. If we know that it is, then there must be a sequence of substitutions using xU(x, y)y ~ yx that transforms xy to yx. We examine such sequences and propose finding them as a challenge to proof by computer. Also, every model of y ~ xU(x, y)x is a group. This raises a similar challenge, which we explore in the special case y ~ x ^m y ^p x ⁿ . In addition, we determine the free model with two generators of some of these identities. In particular, we find that the free model for y ~ x ² yx ² has order 32 and is the product of D ₄ (the symmetries of a square), C ₂, and C ₄, and point out relations between such identities and Burnside’s Problem concerning models of x ⁿ ~ y ⁿ . We also examine several identities not related to groups.     

The group of commutativity preserving maps on strictly upper triangular matrices

Let N = N _n (R) be the algebra of all n × n strictly upper triangular matrices over a unital commutative ring R. A map φ on N is called preserving commutativity in both directions if xy = yx ? φ(x)φ(y) = φ(y)φ(x). In this paper, we prove that each invertible linear map on N preserving commutativity in both directions is exactly a quasi-automorphism of N, and a quasi-automorphism of N can be decomposed into the product of several standard maps, which extains the main result of Y. Cao, Z. Chen and C. Huang (2002) from fields to rings.     

Zero product determined Jordan algebras,I

We show that the Jordan algebra 𝒮 of symmetric matrices with respect to either transpose or symplectic involution is zero product determined. This means that if a bilinear map {.,?.} from 𝒮?×?𝒮 into a vector space X satisfies {x, y}?=?0 whenever x?○?y?=?0, then there exists a linear map T : 𝒮?→?X such that {x,?y}?=?T(x?○?y) for all x, y?∈?𝒮 (here, x?○?y?=?xy?+?yx).     

About noncommuting graphs

The noncommuting graph ?(G) of a nonabelian finite group G is defined as follows: The vertices of ?(G) are represented by the noncentral elements of G, and two distinct vertices x and y are joined by an edge if xy ≠ yx. In [1], the following was conjectured: Let G and H be two nonabelian finite groups such that ?(G) ? ?(H); then ¦G¦ = ¦H¦. Here we give some counterexamples to this conjecture.     

Some Properties of the Idempotent Graph of a Ring

The idempotent graph of a ring R, denoted by I(R), is a graph whose vertices are all nontrivial idempotents of R and two distinct vertices x and y are adjacent if and only if xy = yx = 0. In this paper, we show that diam\({(I(M_n(D))) = 4}\), for all natural number \({n \geq 4}\) and diam\({(I(M_3(D))) = 5}\), where D is a division ring. We also provide some classes of rings whose idempotent graphs are connected. Moreover, the regularity, clique number and chromatic number of idempotent graphs are studied.     

A generalization of the cosine-sine functional equation on groups

The functional equation f(xy)=f(x)g(y)+g(x)f(y)+h(x)h(y) is solved where f, g, h are complex functions defined on a group.     

On Maps Preserving Zero Jordan Products

Let R be a ring, A = M _n (R) and θ: A → A a surjective additive map preserving zero Jordan products, i.e. if x,y ∈ A are such that xy + yx = 0, then θ(x)θ(y) + θ(y)θ(x) = 0. In this paper, we show that if R contains \frac12\frac{1}{2} and n ≥ 4, then θ = λϕ, where λ = θ(1) is a central element of A and ϕ: A → A is a Jordan homomorphism.     

The Wedderburn Principal Theorem for Generalized Almost-Jordan Algebras

We study commutative algebras A over fields of characteristic ≠2, 3 which satisfy the identity β{x(y(xx)) ? x(x(xy))} + γ{y(x(xx)) ? x(x(xy))} = 0. We do not assume power-associativity. We find the Peirce decomposition of these algebras. We prove the existence of a Wedderburn decomposition under some additional conditions.     

Admissible Orders of Jordan Loops

A commutative loop is Jordan if it satisfies the identity x²(yx) = (x²y)x. Using an amalgam construction and its generalizations, we prove that a nonassociative Jordan loop of order n exists if and only if n≧ 6 and n≠ 9. We also consider whether powers of elements in Jordan loops are well‐defined, and we construct an infinite family of finite simple nonassociative Jordan loops. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 17: 103–118, 2009     

Wilson's functional equation on P3-groups

Summary. Consider Wilson's functional equation¶¶f(xy) + f(xy^-1) = 2f(f)g(y) f(xy) + f(xy^{-1}) = 2f(f)g(y) , for f,g : G ? K f,g : G \to K ¶where G is a group and K a field with char K 1 2 {\rm char}\, K\ne 2 .¶Aczél, Chung and Ng in 1989 have solved Wilson's equation, assuming that the function g satisfies Kannappan's condition g(xyz) = g(xzy) and f(xy) = f(yx) for all x,y,z ? G x,y,z\in G .¶In the present paper we obtain the general solution of Wilson's equation when G is a P₃-group and we show that there exist solutions different of those obtained by Aczél, Chung and Ng.¶A group G is said to be a P₃-group if the commutator subgroup G' of G, generated by all commutators [x,y] := x^-1y^-1xy, has the order one or two.     

Distance matrix polynomials of trees

Let G be a finite connected graph. If x and y are vertices of G, one may define a distance function d_G on G by letting d_G(x, y) be the minimal length of any path between x and y in G (with d_G(x, x) = 0). Thus, for example, d_G(x, y) = 1 if and only if {x, y} is an edge of G. Furthermore, we define the distance matrix D(G) for G to be the square matrix with rows and columns indexed by the vertex set of G which has d_G(x, y) as its (x, y) entry. In this paper we are concerned with properties of D(G) for the case in which G is a tree (i.e., G is acyclic). In particular, we precisely determine the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of D(G). This determination is made by deriving surprisingly simple expressions for these coefficients as certain fixed linear combinations of the numbers of various subgraphs of G.     

On directed zero-divisor graphs of finite rings

For an artinian ring R, the directed zero-divisor graph Γ(R) is connected if and only if there is no proper one-sided identity element in R. Sinks and sources are characterized and clarified for a finite ring R. Especially, it is proved that for any ring R, if there exists a source y in Γ(R) with y²=0, then |R|=4 and R={0,x,y,z}, where x and z are left identity elements and yx=0=yz. Such a ring R is also the only ring such that Γ(R) has exactly one source. This shows that Γ(R) cannot be a network for any finite or infinite ring R.     

Some theorems on the existence,uniqueness, and nonexistence of limit cycles for quadratic systems

Given a quadratic system (QS) with a focus or a center at the origin we write it in the form ẋ = y + P₂(x, y), ẏ = −x + dy + Q₂(x, y) where P₂ and Q₂ are homogeneous polynomials of degree 2. If we define F(x, y) = (x − dy) P₂(x, y) + yQ₂(x, y) and g(x, y) = xQ₂(x, y) − yP₂(x, y) we give results of existence, nonexistence, and uniqueness of limit cycles if F(x, y) g(x, y) does not change of sign. Then, by using these results plus the properties on the evolution of the limit cycles of the semicomplete families of rotated vector fields we can study some particular families of QS, i.e., the QS with a unique finite singularity and the bounded QS with either one or two finite singularities.