Questions tagged [semigroups-and-monoids]

A semigroup is a set $S$ together with a binary operation that is associative. Examples of semigroups are the set of finite strings over a fixed alphabet (under concatenation) and the positive integers (under addition, maximum, or minimum). A monoid is a semigroup with a neutral element. Of course, any group is also a monoid/semigroup.

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Is there a (discrete) monoid M injecting into its group completion G for which BM is not homotopy equivalent to BG?

For a (discrete) monoid $M$, the classifying space $BM$ is the geometric realization of the nerve of the one object category whose hom-set is $M$. (This definition gives the usual classfiying space ...
Omar Antolín-Camarena's user avatar
17 votes
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Question about combinatorics on words

Let $\{a_1,a_2,...,a_n\}$ be an alphabet and let $\{u_1,...,u_n\}$ be words in this alphabet, and $a_i\mapsto u_i$ be a substitution $\phi$. Question: Is there an algorithm to check if for some $m,k$...
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Is the category of smooth manifolds equivalent to the opposite category of the category of commutative monoids of some additive symmetric monoidal category?

This is a followup to my previous question, which asked whether the category of commutative or noncommutative C*-algebras or von Neumann algebras is equivalent to the category of commutative or ...
Dmitri Pavlov's user avatar
13 votes
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Is every simply connected finite complex the classifying space of a finite monoid

On page 323 of Fiedorowicz, "Classifying Spaces of Topological Monoids and Categories" it was stated that "it seems likely that any finite simply connected complex should [have the same weak homotopy ...
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Combinatorial proof of invertibility of a symmetric matrix associated to the ring of matrices over a finite field

Let $F$ be a finite field of $q$ elements with characteristic $p$. Let $M_n(F)$ be the ring of $n\times n$ matrices over $F$. We define a $q^{n^2}\times q^{n^2}$ symmetric matrix $L$ over the ...
Benjamin Steinberg's user avatar
11 votes
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Does every finite poset have a rigid endomorphism?

Crossposted on Mathematics. In this post, an order-preserving self-map of a poset $X$ will be called an endomorphism of $X$, and such an endomorphism $f$ will be called rigid if the only automorphism ...
Pierre-Yves Gaillard's user avatar
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Is it decidable if a tree-presented semigroup contains an idempotent?

A semigroup presentation $\langle A | R\rangle$ is called tree-like if every relation has the form $ab=c$, $a,b,c$ are in $A$ and if two relations $ab=c, a'b'=c'$ belong to $R$, then $c=c'$ if and ...
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A formula for Frobenius number of certain numerical semigroups

The old formula for the Frobenius number of a numerical semigroup generated by two elements can be stated as follows: assume $\gcd\{a+1,b+1\}=1$, then the Frobenius number of $S= \left<a+1,b+1\...
Hailong Dao's user avatar
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How much do idempotent ultrafilters generate in terms of semigroups?

It is known that the set of ultrafilters on, say, the natural numbers $\mathbb{N}$, can naturally be endowed with the structure of a compact topological left semigroup (which fails to be anything ...
Jakub Konieczny's user avatar
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Parallelizability of Lie monoids

A Lie monoid is a monoid, together with a structure of a smooth manifold (possibly with a boundary), such that the monoid multiplication is smooth. If all left (or right) translations in a Lie monoid $...
Žan Grad's user avatar
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What is the precise connection between logarithmic algebraic geometry and the field with one element?

Monoid schemes (a.k.a. $\frak M$-schemes) have been introduced by Deitmar as a possible approach to geometry over the field with one element. These build upon monoids as the basic building blocks for ...
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Embedding $\beta\mathbb{N}$ into a product of Cantor sets

Let us consider $\beta\mathbb{N}$, the Stone-Čech compactification of the natural numbers (where we do not take $0$ to be a natural number, so the only idempotent elements are nonprincipal ...
Simon_Peterson's user avatar
8 votes
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Semigroups of matrices closed under conjugate transposition

An involution semigroup or $\star$-semigroup is a unary semigroup $\langle S,{\cdot}\,,{}^\star\rangle$ that satisfies the equations $$ (x^\star)^\star = x \quad \text{and} \quad (xy)^\star = y^\star ...
E W H Lee's user avatar
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Matrix decompositions as monoid isomorphisms. Ever considered before?

I've noticed some correspondences between some matrix decompositions and monoid isomorphisms (always to some free commutative monoid), in addition to the one I asked about in a previous question: ...
wlad's user avatar
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Are most semigroups nilpotent of degree 3?

A semigroup is nilpotent of degree 3 if every product of 3 elements gives the same result. In 2012, Andreas Distler and James D. Mitchell wrote that: It is part of the folklore of semigroup theory ...
John Baez's user avatar
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A minimal semigroup generating subset of the additive reals

I asked this on MSE, but I was told to ask it here because it is a difficult question. Consider the additive magma of the real numbers, $(\mathbb{R};+)$. Does there exist a subset $S$ of the reals ...
user107952's user avatar
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The smallest cardinality of a cover of a group by algebraic sets

$\DeclareMathOperator\cov{cov}$A subset $A$ of a semigroup $X$ is called algebraic if $$A=\{x\in X: a_0xa_1x...xa_n=b\}$$ for some $b\in X$ and $a_0,a_1,...,a_n \in X^1=X\cup \{1\}$. The smallest ...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
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Factoring a function from a finite set to itself

Let $S$ be a finite set and $f: S \to S$ be a function. Let $k = |f(S)|$ and let $\alpha$ be the partition of $S$ into $f$-fibers, i.e. $\alpha = \{ \alpha_t \}_{t \in f(S)}$ where $\alpha_t = f^{-1}(\...
Sophie M's user avatar
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Generating the monoid of injective endomorphisms of the free group

Let $F$ be the free group of rank $2$ (or any finite rank if this does not matter). The set of injective group endomorphisms $F\to F$ forms a monoid $M$ by compositions. Is there a simple looking set ...
Lvzhou Chen's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
564 views

Generating functions in countable commutative monoids

Let $f: \mathbb{N}_0 \rightarrow \mathbb{C}$ be a function. The power series of $f$ can be viewed as the function $\mathscr{P}_f : q \mapsto \sum_{n \in \mathbb{N}_0}^{} f(n)q^n$ where $q \in \mathbb{...
Tian Vlašić's user avatar
6 votes
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Usefulness of total algebras and exotic generating series

In his first Algebra volume, Bourbaki [1] defines the structure of a “total algebra” i.e. the space of functions on a monoid $M$ (to a ring $k$) with the convolution product ( a function $f:\ M\to k$ ...
Duchamp Gérard H. E.'s user avatar
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156 views

Examples of groups with a positive homogeneous presentation without the Haagerup property or not of type $F_\infty$

I am looking for groups with a certain presentation that do not have the Haagerup property or are finitely presented but not of type $F_\infty$ (meaninig that for some $n\geq 3$ we cannot find any ...
Arnaud's user avatar
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Is the monoid of all cancellative finitely generated commutative monoids cancellative?

$\DeclareMathOperator\Mon{Mon}\DeclareMathOperator\Grp{Grp}$Let $\Mon'$ be the set of isomorphism classes of (small) commutative, unital, cancellative ($a + t = b + t$ implies $a = b$) monoids. It is ...
Leo Herr's user avatar
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The highest degree of a polynomial on a finite group

This question is motivated by the comments and the answer to this MO-question. First let us recall some definitions. A function $f:X\to X$ on a group $X$ is called a polynomial if there exists $n\in\...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
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6 votes
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Maximal number of commuting functions of a finite set

Let $S$ be a finite set with $n$ elements and let $F_S$ denote the set of functions from $S$ to $S$. I wonder whether anything is known about the maximal cardinality of a commuting subset of $F_S$? A ...
Anthony Quas's user avatar
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Generalization of pseudogroups

Pseudogroups are defined here: https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/pseudogroup One of the problems with defining manifolds in terms of pseudogroups is that it gives no notion of a morphism between manifolds,...
Joshua Meyers's user avatar
6 votes
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Special monomorphism to encode the inclusion of topological submonoids

Consider the category $\mathrm{TopMon}$ of topological monoids and continuous monoid homomorphisms. Consider the inclusion $i:\Bbb{R}_{\ge 0}\hookrightarrow \Bbb{R}$, where the spaces are taken with ...
geodude's user avatar
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6 votes
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Would you like a subject class for semigroup theory on the arXiv?

After contacting the arxiv recently about possibly adding semigroup theory as a subject class, they suggested I canvas the research community to establish whether such a subject class would be used ...
Nicholas Ham's user avatar
6 votes
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115 views

Closedness of the partial order in complete Hausdorff semitopological semilattices

First some definitions. A semilattice is a commutative semigroup consisting of idempotents (i.e., elements such that $xx=x$). A typical example of a semilattice is the unit interval endowed with the ...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
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6 votes
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79 views

Representing meet-semilattices with vector spaces of specified dimensions

Take $K$ to be a field and take $L$ to be a finite meet-semilattice. I'm interested in the set of functions $n: L \rightarrow \mathbb{Z}^{\ge 0}$ such that there is some function $V$ from $L$ to ...
Alexander Smith's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
214 views

Matrix semigroups in which a weighted average of eigenvalues is multiplicative

A problem in fractal geometry requires me to consider matrix semigroups with the following curious property. For a $d \times d$ real matrix $A$ let $\lambda_1(A) \geq \lambda_2(A) \geq \cdots \geq \...
Ian Morris's user avatar
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6 votes
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292 views

Laurent and power series over the field with one element?

Question. Is there a suitable notion of the Laurent series ring $\mathbb{F}_1((t))$ and power series ring $\mathbb{F}_1[[t]]$ in some framework for the field with one element $\mathbb{F}_1$? For ...
Jason Polak's user avatar
  • 1,843
6 votes
0 answers
554 views

Computing the pro-solvable closure of a finitely generated subgroup of a free group

The pro-solvable topology on a group $G$ is the unique group topology such that the set of normal subgroups $N\lhd G$ with $G/N$ a finite solvable group is a fundamental system of neighborhoods of the ...
Benjamin Steinberg's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
595 views

Duality between conjugacy classes and irreducible characters for finite monoids?

Qiaochu's answer to this question suggests that the proper way to view the bijection between conjugacy classes and irreducible complex representations of a finite group is via a duality. My question ...
Benjamin Steinberg's user avatar
5 votes
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145 views

$S$ and $T$ globally isomorphic semigroups, with $S$ (commutative and) cancellative, iff $S$ is isomorphic to $T$?

Denote by $\mathcal P(S)$ the semigroup obtained by equipping the non-empty subsets of a "ground semigroup" $S$ (written multiplicatively) with the operation of setwise multiplication ...
Salvo Tringali's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
127 views

Can we define partial group actions on (finite) sets via generators and relators?

Let $G = \langle Y | R \rangle$ be a finitely presented group. A partial group action on a set $X$ is a premorphism into the inverse semigroup $$ \mathcal I (X) = \{ f: A \to B : A, B \subseteq X, f\...
jpmacmanus's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
210 views

The forgetful functor from Groups to Semigroups

While teaching this term I found myself reminded of the fact that the "usual" definition of a group homomorphism is really the definition of a semigroup homomorphism, applied to semigroups ...
Yemon Choi's user avatar
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Heuristics for the word problem for monoids

The question is about a purely practical problem: Given is a list of identities, as in http://www.findstat.org/MapsDatabase/Mp00069: ...
Martin Rubey's user avatar
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5 votes
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64 views

Characters on monotone functions

Characters on the semigroup $(C_{+}^{b}(\mathbb{R}^{d}),+)$, i.e. on bounded positive continuous functions with the ususal pointwise addition, are known to be of the form $C_{+}^{b}(\mathbb{R}^{d})\ni ...
Tobsn's user avatar
  • 289
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0 answers
375 views

Derived tensor products and Tor of commutative monoids

Two commutative monoids $M,N$ have a tensor product $M\otimes N$ satisfying the universal property that there is a tensor-Hom adjunction for any other commutative monoid $L$: $$\text{Hom}(M\otimes N,L)...
John Berman's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
98 views

Zappa-Szép products of the monoid of integers with itself

Question What are all the functions $\alpha , \beta : \mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{N}$ satisfying the following functional equations? $\bullet ~~~~ \alpha(0)=0, \quad \beta(0)=0\\ \bullet ~~~ \...
HeinrichD's user avatar
  • 5,392
5 votes
0 answers
599 views

Unique product groups (and semigroups)

A group $G$ is called a u.p.-group (short for unique product group) if for all nonempty finite subsets $A,B\subseteq G$, there exists an element $g\in A \cdot B$ which can be uniquely written as a ...
Pace Nielsen's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
135 views

Pseudovarieties of monoids

All (pseudo)varieties considered here are (pseudo)varieties of monoids. It is known that any (finite or infinite) monoid that satisfies the identities \begin{equation} xhxyty = xhyxty, \quad xhytxy=...
E W H Lee's user avatar
  • 563
5 votes
0 answers
271 views

Orbit-Stabilizer theorem for continuous groups

The orbit-stabilizer relationship (also known as the orbit-stabilizer theorem) is very clear for finite groups. Is there an equivalent relation for continuous groups? Also, is there a similar notion ...
Arnab's user avatar
  • 615
5 votes
0 answers
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Is the radical of a homogeneous ideal homogeneous?

Let $S$ be an $M$-graded $R$-algebra, where $M$ is some monoid, and $I\subset S$ an homogeneous ideal. The original, naïve, question, was: is it true that $\sqrt{I}$ is homogeneous? In this generality,...
quim's user avatar
  • 1,801
5 votes
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350 views

Chain/Hierarchy of Monoids

Let's assume that we have the following collection of structures: Some space $P$. Monoids $(M_{i+1},\circ_{i+1})$, and Actions $\bullet_{i+1}:M_{i+1}\times M_i\to M_i$, for $i\ge 0$ And $\bullet_{0}:...
supercooldave's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
131 views

What is the tiling semigroup for an Einstein "hat" tiling?

My undergraduate dissertation was on inverse semigroups and the key text I used for it was Lawson's, "Inverse Semigroups: The Theory of Partial Symmetries". In said book, Lawson describes ...
Shaun's user avatar
  • 351
4 votes
0 answers
74 views

Is each TS-topologizable group TG-topologizable?

Definition 1. A topology $\tau$ on a group $X$ is called $\bullet$ a semigroup topology if the multiplication $X\times X\to X$, $(x,y)\mapsto xy$, is continuous in the topology $\tau$; $\bullet$ a ...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
  • 40.7k
4 votes
0 answers
132 views

On skew monoid rings and skew ordered series rings

To my knowledge (see, e.g., H.H. Brungs and G. Törner's Skew Power Series Rings and Derivations [J. Algebra 87 (1984), 368-379]), skew polynomial rings were first introduced by Ø. Ore in 1933: Given ...
Salvo Tringali's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
155 views

Corollaries of Kleene's Theorem (Regular Languages)

Kleene's theorem that finite automata (specifically, nondeterministic) are expressively equivalent to regular expressions seems to be a powerful and not immediately obvious tool for untangling the ...
TomKern's user avatar
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