On EQ-monoids

An EQ-monoid A is a monoid with distinguished subsemilattice L with 1 2 L and such that any a, b 2 A have a largest right equalizer in L. The class of all such monoids equipped with a binary operation that identifies this largest right equalizer is a variety. Examples include Heyting algebras, Cartesian products of monoids with zero, as well as monoids of relations and partial maps on sets. The variety is 0-regular (though not ideal determined and hence congruences do not permute), and we describe the normal subobjects in terms of a global semilattice structure. We give representation theorems for several natural subvarieties in terms of Boolean algebras, Cartesian products and partial maps. The case in which the EQmonoid is assumed to be an inverse semigroup with zero is given particular attention. Finally, we define the derived category associated with a monoid having a distinguished subsemilattice containing the identity (a construction generalising the idea of a monoid category), and show that those monoids for which this derived category has equalizers in the semilattice constitute a variety of EQ-monoids

Semigroups with if-then-else and halting programs

The "if–then–else" construction is one of the most elementary programming commands, and its abstract laws have been widely studied, starting with McCarthy. Possibly, the most obvious extension of this is to include the operation of composition of programs, which gives a semigroup of functions (total, partial, or possibly general binary relations) that can be recombined using if–then–else. We show that this particular extension admits no finite complete axiomatization and instead focus on the case where composition of functions with predicates is also allowed (and we argue there is good reason to take this approach). In the case of total functions — modeling halting programs — we give a complete axiomatization for the theory in terms of a finite system of equations. We obtain a similar result when an operation of equality test and/or fixed point test is included

Monoids with tests and the algebra of possibly non-halting programs

We study the algebraic theory of computable functions, which can be viewed as arising from possibly non-halting computer programs or algorithms, acting on some state space, equipped with operations of composition, if-then-else and while-do defined in terms of a Boolean algebra of conditions. It has previously been shown that there is no finite axiomatisation of algebras of partial functions under these operations alone, and this holds even if one restricts attention to transformations (representing halting programs) rather than partial functions, and omits while-do from the signature. In the halting case, there is a natural “fix”, which is to allow composition of halting programs with conditions, and then the resulting algebras admit a finite axiomatisation. In the current setting such compositions are not possible, but by extending the notion of if-then-else, we are able to give finite axiomatisations of the resulting algebras of (partial) functions, with while-do in the signature if the state space is assumed finite. The axiomatisations are extended to consider the partial predicate of equality. All algebras considered turn out to be enrichments of the notion of a (one-sided) restriction semigrou

Identities in the Algebra of Partial Maps

We consider the identities of a variety of semigroup-related algebras modelling the algebra of partial maps. We show that the identities are intimately related to a weak semigroup deductive system and we show that the equational theory is decidable. We do this by giving a term rewriting system for the variety. We then show that this variety has many subvarieties whose equational theory interprets the full uniform word problem for semigroups and consequently are undecidable. As a corollary it is shown that the equational theory of Clifford semigroups whose natural order is a semilattice is undecidable

Partial maps with domain and range: extending Schein's representation

The semigroup of all partial maps on a set under the operation of composition admits a number of operations relating to the domain and range of a partial map. Of particular interest are the operations R and L returning the identity on the domain of a map and on the range of a map respectively. Schein [25] gave an axiomatic characterisation of the semigroups with R and L representable as systems of partial maps; the class is a finitely axiomatisable quasivariety closely related to ample semigroups (which were introduced—as type A semigroups—by Fountain, [7]). We provide an account of Schein's result (which until now appears only in Russian) and extend Schein's method to include the binary operations of intersection, of greatest common range restriction, and some unary operations relating to the set of fixed points of a partial map. Unlike the case of semigroups with R and L, a number of the possibilities can be equationally axiomatised

Radicals of 0-regular algebras

We consider a generalisation of the Kurosh--Amitsur radical theory for rings (and more generally multi-operator groups) which applies to 0-regular varieties in which all operations preserve 0. We obtain results for subvarieties, quasivarieties and element-wise equationally defined classes. A number of examples of radical and semisimple classes in particular varieties are given, including hoops, loops and similar structures. In the first section, we introduce 0-normal varieties (0-regular varieties in which all operations preserve 0), and show that a key isomorphism theorem holds in a 0-normal variety if it is subtractive, a property more general than congruence permutability. We then define our notion of a radical class in the second section. A number of basic results and characterisations of radical and semisimple classes are then obtained, largely based on the more general categorical framework of L. M\'arki, R. Mlitz and R. Wiegandt as in [13]. We consider the subtractive case separately. In the third section, we obtain results concerning subvarieties and quasivarieties based on the results of the previous section, and also generalise to subtractive varieties some results for multi-operator group radicals defined by simple equational rules. Several examples of radical and semisimple classes are given for a range of fairly natural 0-normal varieties of algebras, most of which are subtractive

Domain and range operations in semigroups and rings

A D-semigroup S is a semigroup equipped with an operation D satisfying laws asserting that for a ∈ S, D(a) is the smallest e in some set of idempotents U ⊆ S for which ea = a. D-semigroups correspond to left-reduced U-semiabundant semigroups. The basic properties and many examples of D-semigroups are given. Also considered are D-rings, whose multiplicative semigroup is a D-semigroup. Rickart *-rings provide important examples, and the most general D-rings for which the elements of the form D(a) constitute a lattice under the same meet and join operations as for Rickart *-rings are described

How to generalise demonic composition

Demonic composition is defined on the set of binary relations over the non-empty set X, , and is a variant of standard or “angelic” composition. It arises naturally in the setting of the theory of non-deterministic computer programs, and shares many of the nice features of ordinary composition (it is associative, and generalises composition of functions). When equipped with the operations of demonic composition and domain, is a left restriction semigroup (like , the semigroup of partial functions on X), whereas usual composition and domain give a unary semigroup satisfying weaker laws. By viewing under a restricted version of its usual composition and domain as a constellation (a kind of “one-sided” category), we show how this demonic left restriction semigroup structure arises on , placing it in a more general context. The construction applies to any unary semigroup with a “domain-like” operation satisfying certain minimal conditions which we identify. In particular it is shown that using the construction, any Baer ∗-semigroup S can be given a left restriction semigroup structure which is even an inverse semigroup if S is ∗-regular. It follows that the semigroup of × matrices over the real or complex numbers is an inverse semigroup with respect to a modified notion of product that almost always agrees with the usual matrix product, and in which inverse is pseudoinverse (Moore–Penrose inverse)

Joins of subalgebras and normals in 0-regular varieties

In any 0-normal variety (0-regular variety in which {0} is a subalgebra), every congruence class containing 0 is a subalgebra. These “normal subalgebras” of a fixed algebra constitute a lattice, isomorphic to its congruence lattice. We are interested in those 0-normal varieties for which the join of two normal subalgebras in the lattice of normal subalgebras of an algebra equals their join in the lattice of subalgebras, as happens with groups and rings. We characterise this property in terms of a Mal’cev condition, and use examples to show it is strictly stronger than being ideal determined but strictly weaker than being 0-coherent (classically ideal determined) and does not imply congruence permutability

Groups with fix-set quasi-order

If X is a set, the fix-set quasiorder on a group of permutations of X is the quasiorder induced by containment of the fix-sets of elements of SX. Axioms for such quasiorders on groups have previously been given. We generalise these to allow non-faithful group actions, the resulting abstract quasiorders being called fix-orders. We characterise the possible fix-orders on a given group G in terms of certain families of subgroups of G. The special case in which the members of the defining family of subgroups are all normal is considered. Software is used to construct and analyse the lattices of fix-orders of many small finite groups