On the congruence modularity conjecture

A new condition of compatibility with projections, applicable to some Maltsev filters, is defined and shown to hold, among others, for the filter of congruence-modular varieties. As a consequence, it is shown that there exist no simple counterexamples (in a specified sense) to the modularity conjecture. This paper is dedicated to Walter Taylor. Received November 5, 2005; accepted in final form April 3, 2006.     

The modular commutator via the Gumm terms

We derive the basic properties of the congruence commutator in modular varieties using the characterization of congruence modularity due to H.-P. Gumm rather than that due to A. Day.This paper is dedicated to the memory of Alan Day, whose mathematical enthusiasm and insights were an inspiration to us all.Presented by R. Freese.     

Optimal Mal’tsev conditions for congruence modular varieties

For varieties, congruence modularity is equivalent to the tolerance intersection property, TIP in short. Based on TIP, it was proved in [5] that for an arbitrary lattice identity implying modularity (or at least congruence modularity) there exists a Mal’tsev condition such that the identity holds in congruence lattices of algebras of a variety if and only if the variety satisfies the corresponding Mal’tsev condition. However, the Mal’tsev condition constructed in [5] is not the simplest known one in general. Now we improve this result by constructing the best Mal’tsev condition and various related conditions. As an application, we give a particularly easy new proof of the result of Freese and Jónsson [11] stating that modular congruence varieties are Arguesian, and we strengthen this result by replacing “Arguesian” by “higher Arguesian” in the sense of Haiman [18]. We show that lattice terms for congruences of an arbitrary congruence modular variety can be computed in two steps: the first step mimics the use of congruence distributivity, while the second step corresponds to congruence permutability. Particular cases of this result were known; the present approach using TIP is even simpler than the proofs of the previous partial results.Dedicated to the memory of Ivan RivalReceived February 12, 2003; accepted in final form August 5, 2004.This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

Small congruence distributive varieties: Retracts, injectives, equational compactness and amalgamation

The relationship between absolute retracts, injectives and equationally compact algebras in finitely generated congruence distributive varieties with 1- element subalgebras is considered and several characterization theorems are proven. Amongst others, we prove that the absolute retracts in such a variety are precisely the injectives in the amalgamation class and that every equationally compact reduced power of a finite absolute retract is an absolute retract. We also show that any elementary amalgamation class is Horn if and only if it is closed under finite direct products. The second author's work was supported by grants from the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the University of Cape Town Research Committee.     

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.     

Many-sorted algebras in congruence modular varieties

We present several basic results on many-sorted algebras, most of them only valid in congruence modular varieties. We describe a connection between the properties of many-sorted varieties and those of varieties of one sort and give some results on functional completeness, the commutator and Abelian algebras.Presented by H. P. Gumm.     

On free spectra of finite completely regular semigroups and monoids

We show that a finite completely regular semigroup has a sub-log-exponential free spectrum if and only if it is locally orthodox and has nilpotent subgroups. As a corollary, it follows that the Seif Conjecture holds true for completely regular monoids. In the process, we derive solutions of word problems of free objects in a sequence of varieties of locally orthodox completely regular semigroups from solutions of word problems in relatively free bands.     

Fibration of points and congruence modularity

Malcev varieties, or more generally Malcev categories, have been characterized by a property of the fibres of their fibration of points. In the same way, it is shown here that congruence modular varieties, and more generally Gumm categories, are also characterized by a property of these fibres.Received June 4, 2003; accepted in final form June 18, 2004.     

Another independent self-dual basis for the trivial variety

We give a new independent self-dual 3-basis for the trivial variety with two binary operations. Received October 24, 2006; accepted in final form January 25, 2007.     

Some bounds for partially balanced block designs

Bounds on eigenvalues of theC-matrix for a partially balanced block (PBB) design are given together with some bounds on the number of blocks. Furthermore, a certain equiblock-sized PBB design is characterized. These results contain, as special cases, the known results for variance-balanced block designs and so on.     

On the congruence problem in infinite dimensional sesquilinear spaces

If two subspaces V and V of a sesquilinear space E are congruent (i.e., there is an isometry : E E with (V)=V) then their corresponding quadratic lattices V(V, E) and V(V, E) are isomorphic. It is shown that the converse holds for important types of sesquilinear spaces E, provided that dim(E) ₃. However, the converse generally fails if dim(E) ₃.     

Some of our primal algebras are missing: the canonical primal theory

It has been proven elsewhere that every variety has associated with it a unique canonical theory, where idempotent morphisms split. This article exhibits models of the canonical theory associated with any primal variety, for example, Boolean algebras. One such variety of models is generated by the several-sorted algebra with carriers of all prime cardinalities and with a clone of all finitary operations ω on and between carriers. This primal algebra was unknown. There are more. Presented by R. McKenzie. Received December 20, 2005; accepted in final form May 2, 2006.     

Free generating sets of lattice-ordered abelian groups

We prove that the generators g₁,…,g_n of a lattice-ordered abelian group G form a free generating set iff each ?-ideal generated by any n−1 linear combinations of the g_i is strictly contained in some maximal ?-ideal of G.     

Infinite-vertex free profinite semigroupoids and symbolic dynamics

Some fundamental questions about infinite-vertex (free) profinite semigroupoids are clarified, putting in evidence differences with the finite-vertex case. This is done with examples of free profinite semigroupoids generated by the graph of a subshift. It is also proved that for minimal subshifts, the infinite edges of such free profinite semigroupoids form a connected compact groupoid.     

Variations on seven points: An introduction to the scope and methods of coding theory and finite geometries

We use a simple example (the projective plane on seven points) to give an introductory survey on the problems and methods in finite geometries — an area of mathematics related to geometry, combinatorial theory, algebra, group theory and number theory as well as to applied mathematics (e.g., coding theory, information theory, statistical design of experiments, tomography, cryptography, etc.). As this list already indicates, finite geometries is — both from the point of view of pure mathematics and from that of applications related to computer science and communication engineering — one of the most interesting and active fields of mathematics. It is the aim of this paper to introduce the nonspecialist to some of these aspects.To Professor Günter Pickert on the occasion of his 65th birthday     

Transversals of families in complete lattices,and torsion in product modules

Suppose L is a complete lattice containing no copy of the power-set 2 and no uncountable well-ordered chains. It is shown that for any family of nonempty subsets , one can choose elements p _i X _i so that _A p _i majorizes all elements of all but finitely many of the X _i . Ring-theoretic consequences are deduced: for instance, the direct product of a family of torsion modules over a commutative Noetherian integral domain R is torsion if and only if some element of R annihilates all but finitely many of the modules.     

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.     

Almost distributive sublattices and congruence heredity

A congruence lattice L of an algebra A is hereditary if every 0-1 sublattice of L is the congruence lattice of an algebra on A. Suppose that L is a finite lattice obtained from a distributive lattice by doubling a convex subset. We prove that every congruence lattice of a finite algebra isomorphic to L is hereditary. Presented by E. W. Kiss. Received July 18, 2005; accepted in final form April 2, 2006.