A cofinal coloring theorem for partially ordered algebras

If P is a directed partially ordered algebra of an appropriate sort-e.g. an upper semilattice-and has no maximal element, then P has two disjoint subalgebras each cofinal in P. In fact, if P has cofinality then there exists a family of such disjoint subalgebras. A version of this result is also proved without the directedness assumption, in which the cofinality of P is replaced by an invariant which we call its global cofinality.This work was done while the first author was partly supported by NSF contract MCS 82-02632.     

The space of minimal prime ideals in a 0-distributive semilattice

LetS be a 0-distributive semilattice and be its minimal spectrum. It is shown that is Hausdorff. The compactness of has been characterized in several ways. A representation theorem (like Stone's theorem for Boolean algebras) for disjunctive, 0-distributive semilattices is obtained.     

Reverse mathematics and initial intervals

In this paper we study the reverse mathematics of two theorems by Bonnet about partial orders. These results concern the structure and cardinality of the collection of initial intervals. The first theorem states that a partial order has no infinite antichains if and only if its initial intervals are finite unions of ideals. The second one asserts that a countable partial order is scattered and does not contain infinite antichains if and only if it has countably many initial intervals. We show that the left to right directions of these theorems are equivalent to _ACA0${\mathsf{ACA}}_0$ and _ATR0${\mathsf{ATR}}_0$, respectively. On the other hand, the opposite directions are both provable in _WKL0${\mathsf{WKL}}_0$, but not in _RCA0${\mathsf{RCA}}_0$. We also prove the equivalence with _ACA0${\mathsf{ACA}}_0$ of the following result of Erdös and Tarski: a partial order with no infinite strong antichains has no arbitrarily large finite strong antichains.     

A solution to a spectral poset problem of Lewis and Ohm

We show that there is a 1-dimensional (countable) non-spectral poset X such that for all x≠y∈X, ↑x∩↑y and ↓x∩↓y are finite subsets. On the other hand, we obtain some sufficient conditions for posets to be spectral.     

A solution to Dilworth's congruence lattice problem

We construct an algebraic distributive lattice D that is not isomorphic to the congruence lattice of any lattice. This solves a long-standing open problem, traditionally attributed to R.P. Dilworth, from the forties. The lattice D has a compact top element and ℵω+1 compact elements. Our results extend to any algebra possessing a congruence-compatible structure of a join-semilattice with a largest element.     

Free Boolean algebras over unions of two well orderings

Given a partially ordered set P there exists the most general Boolean algebra which contains P as a generating set, called the free Boolean algebra over P. We study free Boolean algebras over posets of the form P=P₀∪P₁, where P₀, P₁ are well orderings. We call them nearly ordinal algebras.Answering a question of Maurice Pouzet, we show that for every uncountable cardinal κ there are κ² pairwise non-isomorphic nearly ordinal algebras of cardinality κ.Topologically, free Boolean algebras over posets correspond to compact 0-dimensional distributive lattices. In this context, we classify all closed sublattices of the product (ω₁+1)×(ω₁+1), showing that there are only ℵ₁ many types. In contrast with the last result, we show that there are ℵ₁² topological types of closed subsets of the Tikhonov plank (ω₁+1)×(ω+1).     

Order representability in groups and vector spaces

In the present paper, first we study in a systematic way the numerical representation problem for total preorders defined either on groups or on real vector spaces. Then, we consider groups and real vector spaces equipped with a topology, and analyze the fulfillment of the so-called continuous representability property; the latter meaning that every continuous total preorder defined on the given topological space admits a continuous real-valued order-preserving function. We also explore the analogous cases as above for total preorders that are compatible with the given algebraic structure, looking for real-valued, continuous or not, order-preserving functions that, in addition, are algebraic homomorphisms.     

The embeddability ordering of topological spaces

For K a set of topological spaces and X,Y∈K, the notation Xh_⊆Y means that X embeds homeomorphically into Y; and X∼Y means Xh_⊆Yh_⊆X. With , the equivalence relation ∼ on K induces a partial order h_? well-defined on K/∼ as follows: if Xh_⊆Y.For posets (P,P_?) and (Q,Q_?), the notation (P,P_?)?(Q,Q_?) means: there is an injection such that p₀P_?p₁ in P if and only if h(p₀)Q_?h(p₁) in Q. For κ an infinite cardinal, a poset (Q,Q_?) is a κ-universal poset if every poset (P,P_?) with |P|?κ satisfies (P,P_?)?(Q,Q_?).The authors prove two theorems which improve and extend results from the extensive relevant literature.

Theorem 2.2. There is a zero-dimensional Hausdorff space S with|S|=κsuch that(P(S)/∼,h_?)is a κ-universal poset.     

The dimension of orthomodular posets constructed by pasting Boolean algebras

The main aim of this paper is the calculation of the dimension of certain atomic amalgams. These consist of finite Boolean algebras (blocks) pasted together in such a way that a pair of blocks intersects either trivially in the bounds, or the intersection consists of the bounds, an atom, and its complement.     

The dimension of the finite subsets κ

We answer a question of M. Pouzet by showing that the Dushnik-Miller dimension of the finite subsets of the infinite cardinal ordered by inclusion is ().This paper was written when the first author was visiting the University of Calgary, June, 1995. Research partially supported by Office of Naval Research grant NOOO14-90-1206.Research supported by NSERC grant #69-0982.     

Identities of cofinal sublattices

If V is a variety of lattices and L a free lattice in V on uncountably many generators, then any cofinal sublattice of L generates all of V. On the other hand, any modular lattice without chains of order-type +1 has a cofinal distributive sublattice. More generally, if a modular lattice L has a distributive sublattice which is cofinal modulo intervals with ACC, this may be enlarged to a cofinal distributive sublattice. Examples are given showing that these existence results are sharp in several ways. Some similar results and questions on existence of cofinal sublattices with DCC are noted.This work was done while the first author was partly supported by NSF contract MCS 82-02632, and the second author by an NSF Graduate Fellowship.     

Weak orders admitting a perpendicular linear order

Two orders on the same set are perpendicular if the constant maps and the identity map are the only maps preserving both orders. We characterize the finite weak orders admitting a perpendicular linear order.     

Abel?s summation formula in partially ordered groups

Abel?s partial summation formula has been used classically to obtain convergence tests for certain types of series of real or complex numbers. We generalize the formula and convergence tests to the setting of directed partially ordered topological groups, where the notion of a convergent series is replaced by that of a Cauchy multipliable sequence.     

Circle orders,N-gon orders and the crossing number

Let ={P ₁,...,P _m } be a family of sets. A partial order P(, <) on is naturally defined by the condition P _i <P _j iff P _i is contained in P _j . When the elements of are disks (i.e. circles together with their interiors), P(, <) is called a circle order; if the elements of are n-polygons, P(, <) is called an n-gon order. In this paper we study circle orders and n-gon orders. The crossing number of a partial order introduced in [5] is studied here. We show that for every n, there are partial orders with crossing number n. We prove next that the crossing number of circle orders is at most 2 and that the crossing number of n-gon orders is at most 2n. We then produce for every n4 partial orders of dimension n which are not circle orders. Also for every n>3, we prove that there are partial orders of dimension 2n+2 which are not n-gon orders. Finally, we prove that every partial order of dimension 2n is an n-gon order.This research was supported under Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC Canada) grant numbers A2507 and A0977.     

Greene-Kleitman's theorem for infinite posets

It is proved that if (P) is a poset with no infinite chain and k is a positive integer, then there exist a partition of P into disjoint chains C _i and disjoint antichains A ₁, A ₂, ..., A _k, such that each chain C _i meets min (k, |C _i|) antichains A _j. We make a dual conjecture, for which the case k=1 is: if (P) is a poset with no infinite antichain, then there exist a partition of P into antichains A _i and a chain C meeting all A _i. This conjecture is proved when the maximal size of an antichain in P is 2.     

On trees and tree dimension of ordered sets

We call an ordered set (X, ) a tree if no pair of incomparable elements ofX has an upper bound. It is shown that there is a natural way to associate a tree (T, ) with any ordered set (X, ), and (T, ) can be characterized by a universal property. We define the tree dimensiontd(X, ) of an ordered set as the minimal number of extensions of (X, ) which are trees such that the given order is the intersection of those tree orders. We give characterizations of the tree dimension, relations between dimension and tree dimension, and removal theorems.     

The core of a chain complete poset with no one-way infinite fence and no tower

Like dismantling for finite posets, a perfect sequence = P : of a chain complete posetP represents a canonical procedure to produce a coreP . It has been proved that if the posetP contains no infinite antichain then this coreP is a retract ofP andP has the fixed point property iffP has this property. In this paper the condition of having no infinite antichain is replaced by a weaker one. We show that the same conclusion holds under the assumption thatP does not contain a one-way infinite fence or a tower.Supported by a grant from The National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

Dimension two,fixed points and dismantlable ordered sets

When does the fixed point property of a finite ordered set imply its dismantlability by irreducible elements? For instance, if it has width two. Although every finite ordered set is dismantlable by retractible (not necessarily irreducible) elements, surprisingly, a finite, dimension two ordered set, need not be dismantlable by irreducible elements. If, however, a finite ordered set with the fixed point property is N-free and of dimension two, then it is dismantlable by irreducibles. A curious consequence is that every finite, dimension two ordered set has a complete endomorphism spectrum.