802 research outputs found
Application of verification techniques to inverse monoids
The word problem for inverse monoids generated by
a set subject to relations of the form , where and
are both idempotents in the free inverse monoid generated by ,
is investigated. It is
shown that for every fixed monoid of this form the word problem
can be solved in polynomial time which solves an open problem of
Margolis and Meakin. For the uniform word problem, where the presentation is
part of the input, EXPTIME-completeness is shown.
For the Cayley-graphs of these
monoids, it is shown that the first-order theory with regular path
predicates is decidable. Regular path predicates allow to state
that there is a path from a node to a node that is labeled
with a word from some regular language. As a corollary, the decidability
of the generalized word problem is deduced. Finally, some results
on free partially commutative inverse monoids are presented
Varieties of Restriction Semigroups and Varieties of Categories
The variety of restriction semigroups may be most simply described as that generated from inverse semigroups (S, ·, −1) by forgetting the inverse operation and retaining the two operations x+ = xx−1 and x* = x−1x. The subvariety B of strictrestriction semigroups is that generated by the Brandt semigroups. At the top of its lattice of subvarieties are the two intervals [B2, B2M = B] and [B0, B0M]. Here, B2and B0 are, respectively, generated by the five-element Brandt semigroup and that obtained by removing one of its nonidempotents. The other two varieties are their joins with the variety of all monoids. It is shown here that the interval [B2, B] is isomorphic to the lattice of varieties of categories, as introduced by Tilson in a seminal paper on this topic. Important concepts, such as the local and global varieties associated with monoids, are readily identified under this isomorphism. Two of Tilson\u27s major theorems have natural interpretations and application to the interval [B2, B] and, with modification, to the interval [B0, B0M] that lies below it. Further exploration may lead to applications in the reverse direction
Logic Meets Algebra: the Case of Regular Languages
The study of finite automata and regular languages is a privileged meeting
point of algebra and logic. Since the work of Buchi, regular languages have
been classified according to their descriptive complexity, i.e. the type of
logical formalism required to define them. The algebraic point of view on
automata is an essential complement of this classification: by providing
alternative, algebraic characterizations for the classes, it often yields the
only opportunity for the design of algorithms that decide expressibility in
some logical fragment.
We survey the existing results relating the expressibility of regular
languages in logical fragments of MSO[S] with algebraic properties of their
minimal automata. In particular, we show that many of the best known results in
this area share the same underlying mechanics and rely on a very strong
relation between logical substitutions and block-products of pseudovarieties of
monoid. We also explain the impact of these connections on circuit complexity
theory.Comment: 37 page
Some results on embeddings of algebras, after de Bruijn and McKenzie
In 1957, N. G. de Bruijn showed that the symmetric group Sym(\Omega) on an
infinite set \Omega contains a free subgroup on 2^{card(\Omega)} generators,
and proved a more general statement, a sample consequence of which is that for
any group A of cardinality \leq card(\Omega), Sym(\Omega) contains a coproduct
of 2^{card(\Omega)} copies of A, not only in the variety of all groups, but in
any variety of groups to which A belongs. His key lemma is here generalized to
an arbitrary variety of algebras \bf{V}, and formulated as a statement about
functors Set --> \bf{V}. From this one easily obtains analogs of the results
stated above with "group" and Sym(\Omega) replaced by "monoid" and the monoid
Self(\Omega) of endomaps of \Omega, by "associative K-algebra" and the
K-algebra End_K(V) of endomorphisms of a K-vector-space V with basis \Omega,
and by "lattice" and the lattice Equiv(\Omega) of equivalence relations on
\Omega. It is also shown, extending another result from de Bruijn's 1957 paper,
that each of Sym(\Omega), Self(\Omega) and End_K (V) contains a coproduct of
2^{card(\Omega)} copies of itself.
That paper also gave an example of a group of cardinality 2^{card(\Omega)}
that was {\em not} embeddable in Sym(\Omega), and R. McKenzie subsequently
established a large class of such examples. Those results are shown to be
instances of a general property of the lattice of solution sets in Sym(\Omega)
of sets of equations with constants in Sym(\Omega). Again, similar results --
this time of varying strengths -- are obtained for Self(\Omega), End_K (V), and
Equiv(\Omega), and also for the monoid \Rel of binary relations on \Omega.
Many open questions and areas for further investigation are noted.Comment: 37 pages. Copy at http://math.berkeley.edu/~gbergman/papers is likely
to be updated more often than arXiv copy Revised version includes answers to
some questions left open in first version, references to results of Wehrung
answering some other questions, and some additional new result
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