arXiv subjects

Igor Dolinka

Publications and source records attributed to Igor Dolinka.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

On right units of special inverse monoids

We study the class of monoids that arise as the submonoid of right units of finitely presented special inverse monoids (SIMs). Gray and Ru\v{s}kuc (2024) gave the first example of a finitely presented SIM whose submonoid of right units does not admit a decomposition into a free product of the group of units and a finite rank free monoid. In the first part of this paper we prove a general result which shows that the only instances where the right units of a finitely presented SIM can admit such a free product decomposition is when their group of units is finitely presented. In showing this, we establish some general results about finite generation and presentability of subgroups of SIMs. In particular, we give an exact characterisation of when an arbitrary subgroup is finitely generated in terms of connectedness properties of unions of its cosets in its $\mathscr{R}$-class, and also a characterisation of when an arbitrary subgroup is finitely presented. We also give a sufficient condition for finite generation and presentability of an arbitrary subgroup given in terms of a geometric finiteness property called boundary width. As a consequence, we show that the classes of monoids of right units of finitely presented SIMs and prefix monoids of finitely presented groups are independent. In the second part of the paper, we show that every finitely generated submonoid of a finitely RC-presented monoid is isomorphic to a submonoid $N$ of a finitely presented SIM $M$ such that $N$ is a submonoid of the right units of $M$, and $N$ contains the group of units of $M$. This result generalises and extends the classification of groups of units of finitely presented SIMs recently obtained by Gray and Kambites (2025). From this, we derive a number of surprising properties of RC-presentations for right cancellative monoids contrasting the classical theory of monoid presentations.

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arXiv2025

The finite basis problem for the endomorphism semirings of finite semilattices

For every semilattice $\mathcal{A}=(A,+)$, the set $\mathrm{End}(\mathcal{A})$ of its endomorphisms forms a semiring under pointwise addition and composition. We prove that that if $\mathcal{A}$ is finite, then the endomorphism semiring $\mathrm{End}(\mathcal{A})$ has a finite identity basis if and only if $|A|\le 2$.

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arXiv2025

On Special Inverse Monoids with the Strong $F$-Inverse Property

An inverse monoid $S$ is called $F$-inverse if each $\sigma$-class of $S$, where $\sigma$ is the minimum group congruence of $S$, has a maximum element with respect to the natural order of $S$. Since the property of an inverse monoid being $F$-inverse immediately implies that it must be $E$-unitary, it follows that every $X$-generated $F$-inverse monoid with canonical maximum group image $G$ must be isomorphic to a quotient of the Margolis-Meakin expansion $M(G,X)$. If this is realised in such a way that all the maximal elements of each $\sigma$-class of $M(G,X)$ get identified, thus producing the top element of the corresponding $\sigma$-class of $S$, we say that $S$ is strongly $F$-inverse. Consequently, there is a universal $X$-generated inverse monoid $M_{sF}(G,X)$ with maximum group image $G$ and the strongly $F$-inverse property. We provide a presentation for this inverse monoid and show it can be further simplified upon introducing additional assumptions on the group $G$ (which will include all one-relator groups). We use this to provide a full description of all one-relator special inverse monoids with a cyclically reduced relator word that are strongly $F$-inverse. We also discuss some further examples and non-examples.

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arXiv2024

Semirigidity and the enumeration of nilpotent semigroups of index three

There is strong evidence for the belief that `almost all' finite semigroups, whether we consider multiplication operations on a fixed set or their isomorphism classes, are nilpotent of index 3 (3-nilpotent for short). The only known method for counting all semigroups of given order is exhaustive testing, but formulae exist for the numbers of 3-nilpotent ones, and it is also known that `almost all' of these are rigid (have only trivial automorphism). Here we express the number of distinct 3-nilpotent semigroup operations on a fixed set of cardinality $n$ as a sum of Stirling numbers, and provide a new expression for the number of isomorphism classes of 3-nilpotent semigroups of cardinality $n$. We introduce a notion of semirigidity for semigroups (as a generalization of rigidity) and find computationally tractable formulae giving an upper bound for the number of pairwise non-isomorphic semirigid 3-nilpotent semigroups, and thus an improved lower bound for the number of all 3-nilpotent semigroups up to isomorphism. Analogous formulae are also developed for isomorphism classes such as commutative and self-dual semigroups, and for equivalence classes (isomorphic or anti-isomorphic). The method relies on an application of the theory of orbit counting in permutation group actions. Our main results are accompanied by tables containing values of these numbers and bounds up to $n=10$ with computations carried out in GAP (but perfectly feasible well beyond this value of $n$).

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arXiv2024

Congruences of maximum regular subsemigroups of variants of finite full transformation semigroups

Let $T_X$ be the full transformation monoid over a finite set $X$, and fix some $a\in T_X$ of rank $r$. The variant $T_X^a$ has underlying set $T_X$, and operation $f\star g=fag$. We study the congruences of the subsemigroup $P=Reg(T_X^a)$ consisting of all regular elements of $T_X^a$, and the lattice $Cong(P)$ of all such congruences. Our main structure theorem ultimately decomposes $Cong(P)$ as a specific subdirect product of $Cong(T_r)$ and the full equivalence relation lattices of certain combinatorial systems of subsets and partitions. We use this to give an explicit classification of the congruences themselves, and we also give a formula for the height of the lattice.

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arXiv2023

Product decompositions of semigroups induced by action pairs

This paper concerns a class of semigroups that arise as products $US$, associated to what we call `action pairs'. Here $U$ and $S$ are subsemigroups of a common monoid and, roughly speaking, $S$ has an action on the monoid completion $U^1$ that is suitably compatible with the product in the over-monoid. The semigroups encapsulated by the action pair construction include many natural classes such as inverse semigroups and (left) restriction semigroups, as well as many important concrete examples such as transformational wreath products, linear monoids, (partial) endomorphism monoids of independence algebras, and the singular ideals of many of these. Action pairs provide a unified framework for systematically studying such semigroups, within which we build a suite of tools to ensure a comprehensive understanding of them. We then apply our abstract results to many special cases of interest. The first part of the paper constitutes a detailed structural analysis of semigroups arising from action pairs. We show that any such semigroup $US$ is a quotient of a semidirect product $U\rtimes S$, and we classify all congruences on semidirect products that correspond to action pairs. We also prove several covering and embedding theorems, each of which naturally extends celebrated results of McAlister on proper (a.k.a. $E$-unitary) inverse semigroups. The second part of the paper concerns presentations by generators and relations for semigroups arising from action pairs. We develop a substantial body of general results and techniques that allow us to build presentations for $US$ out of presentations for the constituents $U$ and $S$ in many cases, and then apply these to several examples, including those listed above. Due to the broad applicability of the action pair construction, many results in the literature are special cases of our more general ones.

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arXiv2023

Semiring and involution identities of powers of inverse semigroups

The set of all subsets of any inverse semigroup forms an involution semiring under set-theoretical union and element-wise multiplication and inversion. We find structural conditions on a finite inverse semigroup guaranteeing that neither semiring nor involution identities of the involution semiring of its subsets admit a finite identity basis.

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arXiv2023

Prefix monoids of groups and right units of special inverse monoids

A prefix monoid is a finitely generated submonoid of a finitely presented group generated by the prefixes of its defining relators. Important results of Guba (1997), and of Ivanov, Margolis and Meakin (2001), show how the word problem for certain one-relator monoids, and inverse monoids, can be reduced to solving the membership problem in prefix monoids of certain one-relator groups. Motivated by this, in this paper we study the class of prefix monoids of finitely presented groups. We obtain a complete description of this class of monoids. All monoids in this family are finitely generated, recursively presented and group-embeddable. Our results show that not every finitely generated recursively presented group-embeddable monoid is a prefix monoid, but for every such monoid if we take a free product with a suitably chosen free monoid of finite rank, then we do obtain a prefix monoid. Conversely we prove that every prefix monoid arises in this way. Also, we show that the groups that arise as groups of units of prefix monoids are precisely the finitely generated recursively presented groups, while the groups that arise as Schützenberger groups of prefix monoids are exactly the recursively enumerable subgroups of finitely presented groups. We obtain an analogous result classifying the Schützenberger groups of monoids of right units of special inverse monoids. We also give some examples of right cancellative monoids arising as monoids of right units of finitely presented special inverse monoids, and show that not all right cancellative recursively presented monoids belong to this class.

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arXiv2022

Elaborating the word problem for free idempotent-generated semigroups over the full transformation monoid

With each semigroup one can associate a partial algebra, called the biordered set, which captures important algebraic and geometric features of the structure of idempotents of that semigroup. For a biordered set $\mathcal{E}$, one can construct the free idempotent-generated semigroup over $\mathcal{E}$, $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$, which is the free-est semigroup (in a definite categorical sense) whose biorder of idempotents is isomorphic to $\mathcal{E}$. Studies of these intriguing objects have been recently focusing on their particular aspects, such as maximal subgroups, the word problem, etc. In 2012, Gray and Ruškuc pointed out that a more detailed investigation into the structure of the free idempotent-generated semigroup over the biorder of $\mathcal{T}_n$, the full transformation monoid over an $n$-element set, might be worth pursuing. In 2019, together with Gould and Yang, the present author showed that the word problem for $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E}_{\mathcal{T}_n})$ is algorithmically soluble. In a recent work by the author, it was showed that, for a wide class of biorders $\mathcal{E}$, the algorithmic solution of the word problem revolves around the so-called vertex groups, which arise as certain subgroups of direct products of pairs of maximal subgroups of $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$. In this paper we determine these vertex groups for the case when $\mathcal{E}$ is the biorder of idempotents of $\mathcal{T}_n$.

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arXiv2020

New results on the prefix membership problem for one-relator groups

In this paper we prove several results regarding decidability of the membership problem for certain submonoids in amalgamated free products and HNN extensions of groups. These general results are then applied to solve the prefix membership problem for a number of classes of one-relator groups which are low in the Magnus-Moldavanski\uı hierarchy. Since the prefix membership problem for one-relator groups is intimately related to the word problem for one-relator special inverse monoids in the $E$-unitary case (as discovered in 2001 by Ivanov, Margolis and Meakin), these results yield solutions of the word problem for several new classes of one-relator special inverse monoids. In establishing these results, we introduce a new theory of conservative factorisations of words which provides a link between the prefix membership problem of a one-relator group and the group of units of the corresponding one-relator special inverse monoid. Finally, we exhibit the first example of a one-relator group, defined by a reduced relator word, that has an undecidable prefix membership problem.

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arXiv2020

Free idempotent generated semigroups: The word problem and structure via gain graphs

Building on the previous extensive study of Yang, Gould and the present author, we provide a more precise insight into the group-theoretical ramifications of the word problem for free idempotent generated semigroups over finite biordered sets. We prove that such word problems are in fact equivalent to the problem of computing intersections of cosets of certain subgroups of direct products of maximal subgroups of the free idempotent generated semigroup in question, thus providing decidability of those word problems under group-theoretical assumptions related to the Howson property and the coset intersection property. We also provide a basic sketch of the global semigroup-theoretical structure of an arbitrary free idempotent generated semigroup, including the characterisation of Green's relations and the key parameters of non-regular $\mathscr{D}$-classes. In particular, we prove that all Schützenberger groups of $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$ for a finite biordered set $\mathcal{E}$ must be among the divisors of the maximal subgroups of $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$.

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arXiv2019

Sandwich semigroups in diagram categories

This paper concerns a number of diagram categories, namely the partition, planar partition, Brauer, partial Brauer, Motzkin and Temperley-Lieb categories. If $\mathcal K$ denotes any of these categories, and if $σ\in\mathcal K_{nm}$ is a fixed morphism, then an associative operation $\star_σ$ may be defined on $\mathcal K_{mn}$ by $α\star_σβ=ασβ$. The resulting semigroup $\mathcal K_{mn}^σ=(\mathcal K_{mn},\star_σ)$ is called a sandwich semigroup. We conduct a thorough investigation of these sandwich semigroups, with an emphasis on structural and combinatorial properties such as Green's relations and preorders, regularity, stability, mid-identities, ideal structure, (products of) idempotents, and minimal generation. It turns out that the Brauer category has many remarkable properties not shared by any of the other diagram categories we study. Because of these unique properties, we may completely classify isomorphism classes of sandwich semigroups in the Brauer category, calculate the rank (smallest size of a generating set) of an arbitrary sandwich semigroup, enumerate Green's classes and idempotents, and calculate ranks (and idempotent ranks, where appropriate) of the regular subsemigroup and its ideals, as well as the idempotent-generated subsemigroup. Several illustrative examples are considered throughout, partly to demonstrate the sometimes-subtle differences between the various diagram categories.

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arXiv2019

A group-theoretical interpretation of the word problem for free idempotent generated semigroups

The set of idempotents of any semigroup carries the structure of a biordered set, which contains a great deal of information concerning the idempotent generated subsemigroup of the semigroup in question. This leads to the construction of a free idempotent generated semigroup $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$ - the `free-est' semigroup with a given biordered set $\mathcal{E}$ of idempotents. We show that when $\mathcal{E}$ is finite, the word problem for $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$ is equivalent to a family of constraint satisfaction problems involving rational subsets of direct products of pairs of maximal subgroups of $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$. As an application, we obtain decidability of the word problem for an important class of examples. Also, we prove that for finite $\mathcal{E}$, $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$ is always a weakly abundant semigroup satisfying the congruence condition.

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arXiv2018

Enumeration of idempotents in planar diagram monoids

We classify and enumerate the idempotents in several planar diagram monoids: namely, the Motzkin, Jones (a.k.a. Temperley-Lieb) and Kauffman monoids. The classification is in terms of certain vertex- and edge-coloured graphs associated to Motzkin diagrams. The enumeration is necessarily algorithmic in nature, and is based on parameters associated to cycle components of these graphs. We compare our algorithms to existing algorithms for enumerating idempotents in arbitrary (regular *-) semigroups, and give several tables of calculated values.

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arXiv2018

Presentations for singular wreath products

For a monoid $M$ and a subsemigroup $S$ of the full transformation semigroup $T_n$, the wreath product $M\wr S$ is defined to be the semidirect product $M^n\rtimes S$, with the coordinatewise action of $S$ on $M^n$. The full wreath product $M\wr T_n$ is isomorphic to the endomorphism monoid of the free $M$-act on $n$ generators. Here, we are particularly interested in the case that $S=Sing_n$ is the singular part of $T_n$, consisting of all non-invertible transformations. Our main results are presentations for $M\wr Sing_n$ in terms of certain natural generating sets, and we prove these via general results on semidirect products and wreath products. We re-prove a classical result of Bulman-Fleming that $M\wr Sing_n$ is idempotent generated if and only if the set $M/L$ of $L$-classes of $M$ forms a chain under the usual ordering of $L$-classes, and we give a presentation for $M\wr Sing_n$ in terms of idempotent generators for such a monoid $M$. Among other results, we also give estimates for the minimal size of a generating set for $M\wr Sing_n$, as well as exact values in some cases (including the case that $M$ is finite and $M/L$ is a chain, in which case we also calculate the minimal size of an idempotent generating set). As an application of our results, we obtain a presentation (with idempotent generators) for the idempotent generated subsemigroup of the endomorphism monoid of a uniform partition of a finite set.

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arXiv2018

Sandwich semigroups in locally small categories I: Foundations

Fix (not necessarily distinct) objects $i$ and $j$ of a locally small category $S$, and write $S_{ij}$ for the set of all morphisms $i\to j$. Fix a morphism $a\in S_{ji}$, and define an operation $\star_a$ on $S_{ij}$ by $x\star_ay=xay$ for all $x,y\in S_{ij}$. Then $(S_{ij},\star_a)$ is a semigroup, known as a sandwich semigroup, and denoted by $S_{ij}^a$. This article develops a general theory of sandwich semigroups in locally small categories. We begin with structural issues such as regularity, Green's relations and stability, focusing on the relationships between these properties on $S_{ij}^a$ and the whole category $S$. We then identify a natural condition on $a$, called sandwich regularity, under which the set Reg$(S_{ij}^a)$ of all regular elements of $S_{ij}^a$ is a subsemigroup of $S_{ij}^a$. Under this condition, we carefully analyse the structure of the semigroup Reg$(S_{ij}^a)$, relating it via pullback products to certain regular subsemigroups of $S_{ii}$ and $S_{jj}$, and to a certain regular sandwich monoid defined on a subset of $S_{ji}$; among other things, this allows us to also describe the idempotent-generated subsemigroup $\mathbb E(S_{ij}^a)$ of $S_{ij}^a$. We also study combinatorial invariants such as the rank (minimal size of a generating set) of the semigroups $S_{ij}^a$, Reg$(S_{ij}^a)$ and $\mathbb E(S_{ij}^a)$; we give lower bounds for these ranks, and in the case of Reg$(S_{ij}^a)$ and $\mathbb E(S_{ij}^a)$ show that the bounds are sharp under a certain condition we call MI-domination. Applications to concrete categories of transformations and partial transformations are given in Part II.

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arXiv2018

Sandwich semigroups in locally small categories II: Transformations

Fix sets $X$ and $Y$, and write $\mathcal{PT}_{XY}$ for the set of all partial functions $X\to Y$. Fix a partial function $a:Y\to X$, and define the operation $\star_a$ on $\mathcal{PT}_{XY}$ by $f\star_ag=fag$ for $f,g\in\mathcal{PT}_{XY}$. The sandwich semigroup $(\mathcal{PT}_{XY},\star_a)$ is denoted $\mathcal{PT}_{XY}^a$. We apply general results from Part I to thoroughly describe the structural and combinatorial properties of $\mathcal{PT}_{XY}^a$, as well as its regular and idempotent-generated subsemigroups, Reg$(\mathcal{PT}_{XY}^a)$ and $\mathbb E(\mathcal{PT}_{XY}^a)$. After describing regularity, stability and Green's relations and preorders, we exhibit Reg$(\mathcal{PT}_{XY}^a)$ as a pullback product of certain regular subsemigroups of the (non-sandwich) partial transformation semigroups $\mathcal{PT}_X$ and $\mathcal{PT}_Y$, and as a kind of "inflation" of $\mathcal{PT}_A$, where $A$ is the image of the sandwich element $a$. We also calculate the rank (minimal size of a generating set) and, where appropriate, the idempotent rank (minimal size of an idempotent generating set) of $\mathcal{PT}_{XY}^a$, Reg$(\mathcal{PT}_{XY}^a)$ and $\mathbb E(\mathcal{PT}_{XY}^a)$. The same program is also carried out for sandwich semigroups of totally defined functions and for injective partial functions. Several corollaries are obtained for various (non-sandwich) semigroups of (partial) transformations with restricted image, domain and/or kernel.

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arXiv2017

Universal locally finite maximally homogeneous semigroups and inverse semigroups

In 1959, P. Hall introduced the locally finite group $\mathcal{U}$, today known as Hall's universal group. This group is countable, universal, simple, and any two finite isomorphic subgroups are conjugate in $\mathcal{U}$. It can be explicitly described as a direct limit of finite symmetric groups. It is homogeneous in the model-theoretic sense since it is the Fraisse limit of the class of all finite groups. Since its introduction Hall's group, and several natural generalisations, have been widely studied. In this article we use a generalisation of Fraisse theory to construct a countable, universal, locally finite semigroup $\mathcal{T}$, that arises as a direct limit of finite full transformation semigroups, and has the highest possible degree of homogeneity. We prove that it is unique up to isomorphism among semigroups satisfying these properties. We prove an analogous result for inverse semigroups, constructing a maximally homogeneous universal locally finite inverse semigroup $\mathcal{I}$ which is a direct limit of finite symmetric inverse semigroups (semigroups of partial bijections). The semigroups $\mathcal{T}$ and $\mathcal{I}$ are the natural counterparts of Hall's universal group for semigroups and inverse semigroups, respectively. While these semigroups are not homogeneous, they still exhibit a great deal of symmetry. We study the structural features of these semigroups and locate several well-known homogeneous structures within them, such as the countable generic semilattice, the countable random bipartite graph, and Hall's group itself.

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