Additive subgroups of Q: logarithmic description and intersection configurations

Abstract

We develop a logarithmic framework to study the lattice of subgroups of the additive group of rational numbers. By encoding positive rationals via their prime exponent sequences, one obtains a bijection between $\mathbb{Q}^+$ and finitely supported integral sequences indexed by the prime numbers. This correspondence extends to arbitrary subgroups of $(\mathbb{Q},+)$ through a logarithmic greatest common divisor, yielding a classification of subgroups in terms of eventually nonpositive sequences in $\mathbb{Z}\cup \{- \infty\}$. Within this framework, subgroup inclusion, sum, product, and intersection admit simple coordinatewise descriptions, providing a transparent interpretation of the subgroup lattice and recovering several classical results such as the subgroup classification up to isomorphism. Exploiting this perspective, we obtain a complete characterization of the intersection configurations realizable in subgroups of $(\mathbb{Q},+)$. For rank configurations, realizability is characterized by the decreasing condition together with restrictions on the possible ranks and on the minimal zero sets, and, in the finite-support case, by an additional cardinality condition. For binary configurations, this reduces to saying that every decreasing configuration is realizable in the infinite-support case, whereas in the finite-support case the mentioned cardinality condition is required.