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Nik Ruškuc

Publications and source records attributed to Nik Ruškuc.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Filtered Boolean powers of finite simple non-abelian Mal'cev algebras

Let $\mathbf{A}$ be a finite simple non-abelian Mal'cev algebra (e.g. a group, loop, ring). We investigate the Boolean power $\mathbf{D}$ of $\mathbf{A}$ by the countable atomless Boolean algebra $\mathbf{B}$ filtered at some idempotents $e_1,\dots,e_n$ of $\mathbf{A}$. When $e_1,\dots,e_n$ are all idempotents of $\mathbf{A}$ we establish two concrete representations of $\mathbf{D}$: as the Fraïssé limit of the class of finite direct powers of $\mathbf{A}$, and as congruence classes of the countable free algebra in the variety generated by $\mathbf{A}$. Further, for arbitrary $e_1,\dots,e_n$, we show that $\mathbf{D}$ is $ω$-categorical and that its automorphism group has the small index property, strong uncountable cofinality and the Bergman property. As necessary background we establish some general properties of congruences and automorphisms of filtered Boolean powers of $\mathbf{A}$ by any Boolean algebra $\mathbf{B}$, including a semidirect decomposition for their automorphism groups.

math.LO↗
arXiv2026

Howson property and finitely generated intersection problem for monogenic inverse semigroups

An algebraic structure is said to have the Howson property if the intersection of any two finitely generated subalgebras is finitely generated. We explore the Howson property in the context of monogenic inverse semigroups. It is known, due to work of Jones and Trotter (1989) and Jones (2016), that every monogenic inverse semigroup has the Howson property considered as an inverse semigroup, i.e. with respect to its inverse subsemigroups. In this paper, we consider monogenic inverse semigroups qua semigroups, i.e. we consider all their subsemigroups. We prove that every monogenic inverse semigroup possesses the Howson property in this broader sense, with the sole exception of the monogenic free inverse semigroup. For this exceptional case, we show that the problem of determining whether the intersection of two finitely generated subsemigroups is finitely generated is algorithmically decidable.

math.GR↗
arXiv2026

Well quasi-order and atomicity for combinatorial structures under consecutive orders

We consider partially ordered sets of combinatorial structures under consecutive orders, meaning that two structures are related when one embeds in the other such that `consecutive' elements remain consecutive in the image. Given such a partially ordered set, we may ask decidability questions about its avoidance sets: subsets defined by a finite number of forbidden substructures. Two such questions ask, given a finite set of structures, whether its avoidance set is well quasi-ordered (i.e. contains no infinite antichains) or atomic (i.e. cannot be expressed as the union of two proper subsets). Extending some recent new approaches, we will establish a general framework, which enables us to answer these problems for a wide class of combinatorial structures, including graphs, digraphs and collections of relations.

math.CO↗
arXiv2026

Ample generics in automorphism groups of Boolean powers of simple Mal'cev algebras

Let $\mathbf{A}$ be a finite simple Mal'cev algebra, such as for example a finite simple group, module, ring, associative or Lie algebra, loop or quasigroup. We show that the automorphism group of a filtered Boolean power of continuous functions from the Cantor space $2^ω$ to $\mathbf{A}$ has ample generics. The proof splits into the abelian and non-abelian cases. In the abelian case, we use a representation by modules and the theory of $n$-systems developed by Kechris and Rosendal. In the non-abelian case, the proof relies on the decomposition of the automorphism group as a semidirect product of a certain closure of a filtered Boolean power of continuous functions from $2^ω$ to the automorphism group of $\mathbf{A}$ and the stabiliser of finitely many points in the homeomorphism group $\mathrm{Homeo}\, 2^ω$. As an intermediate step, we show that pointwise stabilisers in $\mathrm{Homeo}\, 2^ω$ have ample generics, which extends Kwiatkowska's result that $\mathrm{Homeo}\, 2^ω$ has ample generics.

math.RA↗
arXiv2026

Comparing Numbers of Diagonal Subsemigroups and Congruences for Semigroups

Given a semigroup $S$, a diagonal subsemigroup $ρ$ is defined to be a reflexive and compatible relation on $S$, i.e. a subsemigroup of the direct square $S\times S$ containing the diagonal $\{ (s,s)\colon s\in S\}$. When $S$ is finite, we define the DSC coefficient $χ(S)$ to be the ratio of the number of congruences to the number of diagonal subsemigroups. In a previous work we observed that $χ(S) = 1$ if and only if $S$ is a group. Here we show that for any rational $α$ with $0 < α\leq 1$, there exists a semigroup with $χ(S) = α$. We do this by utilizing the Rees matrix construction and adapting the congruence classification of such semigroups to describe their diagonal subsemigroups.

math.RA↗
arXiv2025

On cycles in monotone grid classes of permutations

We undertake a detailed investigation into the structure of permutations in monotone grid classes whose row-column graphs do not contain components with more than one cycle. Central to this investigation is a new decomposition, called the $M$-sum, which generalises the well-known notions of direct sum and skew sum, and enables a deeper understanding of the structure of permutations in these grid classes. Permutations which are indecomposable with respect to the $M$-sum play a crucial role in the structure of a grid class and of its subclasses, and this leads us to identify coils, a certain kind of permutation which corresponds to repeatedly traversing a chosen cycle in a particular manner. Harnessing this analysis, we give a precise characterisation for when a subclass of such a grid class is labelled well quasi-ordered, and we extend this to characterise (unlabelled) well quasi-ordering in certain cases. We prove that a large general family of these grid classes are finitely based, but we also exhibit other examples that are not, thereby disproving a conjecture from 2006 due to Huczynska and Vatter.

math.CO↗
arXiv2025

Twisted products of monoids

A twisting of a monoid $S$ is a map $Φ:S\times S\to\mathbb{N}$ satisfying the identity $Φ(a,b) + Φ(ab,c) = Φ(a,bc) + Φ(b,c)$. Together with an additive commutative monoid $M$, and a fixed $q\in M$, this gives rise a so-called twisted product $M\times_Φ^qS$, which has underlying set $M\times S$ and multiplication $(i,a)(j,b) = (i+j+Φ(a,b)q,ab)$. This construction has appeared in the special cases where $M$ is $\mathbb{N}$ or $\mathbb{Z}$ under addition, $S$ is a diagram monoid (e.g.~partition, Brauer or Temperley-Lieb), and $Φ$ counts floating components in concatenated diagrams. In this paper we identify a special kind of `tight' twisting, and give a thorough structural description of the resulting twisted products. This involves characterising Green's relations, (von Neumann) regular elements, idempotents, biordered sets, maximal subgroups, Schützenberger groups, and more. We also consider a number of examples, including several apparently new ones, which take as their starting point certain generalisations of Sylvester's rank inequality from linear algebra.

math.GR↗
arXiv2025

Projection algebras and free projection- and idempotent-generated regular $*$-semigroups

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new family of semigroups - the free projection-generated regular $*$-semigroups - and initiate their systematic study. Such a semigroup $PG(P)$ is constructed from a projection algebra $P$, using the recent groupoid approach to regular $*$-semigroups. The assignment $P\mapsto PG(P)$ is a left adjoint to the forgetful functor that maps a regular $*$-semigroup $S$ to its projection algebra $P(S)$. In fact, the category of projection algebras is coreflective in the category of regular $*$-semigroups. The algebra $P(S)$ uniquely determines the biordered structure of the idempotents $E(S)$, up to isomorphism, and this leads to a category equivalence between projection algebras and regular $*$-biordered sets. As a consequence, $PG(P)$ can be viewed as a quotient of the classical free idempotent-generated (regular) semigroups $IG(E)$ and $RIG(E)$, where $E=E(PG(P))$; this is witnessed by a number of presentations in terms of generators and defining relations. The semigroup $PG(P)$ can also be interpreted topologically, through a natural link to the fundamental groupoid of a simplicial complex explicitly constructed from $P$. The theory is then illustrated on a number of examples. In one direction, the free construction applied to the projection algebras of adjacency semigroups yields a new family of graph-based path semigroups. In another, it turns out that, remarkably, the Temperley-Lieb monoid $TL_n$ is the free regular $*$-semigroup over its own projection algebra $P(TL_n)$.

math.RA↗
arXiv2025

Semigroup Congruences and Subsemigroups of the Direct Square

We investigate semigroups $S$ which have the property that every subsemigroup of $S\times S$ which contains the diagonal $\{ (s,s)\colon s\in S\}$ is necessarily a congruence on $S$. We call such $S$ a DSC semigroup. It is well known that all finite groups are DSC, and easy to see that every DSC semigroup must be simple. Building on this, we show that for broad classes of semigroups -- including periodic, stable, inverse and several well-known types of simple semigroups -- the only DSC members are groups. However, it turns out that there exist non-group DSC semigroups, which we obtain utilising a construction introduced by Byleen for the purpose of constructing interesting congruence-free semigroups. Such examples can additionally be regular or bisimple.

math.RA↗
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.

math.RA↗
arXiv2024

A characterisation of semigroups with only countably many subdirect products with $\mathbb{Z}$

Let $\mathbb{Z}$ be the additive (semi)group of integers. We prove that for a finite semigroup $S$ the direct product $\mathbb{Z}\times S$ contains only countably many subdirect products (up to isomorphism) if and only if $S$ is regular. As a corollary we show that $\mathbb{Z}\times S$ has only countably many subsemigroups (up to isomorphism) if and only if $S$ is completely regular.

math.GR↗
arXiv2019

Rationality for subclasses of 321-avoiding permutations

We prove that every proper subclass of the 321-avoiding permutations that is defined either by only finitely many additional restrictions or is well quasi-ordered has a rational generating function. To do so we show that any such class is in bijective correspondence with a regular language. The proof makes significant use of formal languages and of a host of encodings, including a new mapping called the panel encoding that maps languages over the infinite alphabet of positive integers avoiding certain subwords to languages over finite alphabets.

math.CO↗
arXiv2016

On regularity and the word problem for free idempotent generated semigroups

The category of all idempotent generated semigroups with a prescribed structure $\mathcal{E}$ of their idempotents $E$ (called the biordered set) has an initial object called the free idempotent generated semigroup over $\mathcal{E}$, defined by a presentation over alphabet $E$, and denoted by $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$. Recently, much effort has been put into investigating the structure of semigroups of the form $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$, especially regarding their maximal subgroups. In this paper we take these investigations in a new direction by considering the word problem for $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$. We prove two principal results, one positive and one negative. We show that, for a finite biordered set $\mathcal{E}$, it is decidable whether a given word $w \in E^*$ represents a regular element; if in addition one assumes that all maximal subgroups of $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$ have decidable word problems, then the word problem in $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$ restricted to regular words is decidable. On the other hand, we exhibit a biorder $\mathcal{E}$ arising from a finite idempotent semigroup $S$, such that the word problem for $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$ is undecidable, even though all the maximal subgroups have decidable word problems. This is achieved by relating the word problem of $\mathsf{IG}(\mathcal{E})$ to the subgroup membership problem in finitely presented groups.

math.GR↗
arXiv2013

Unary FA-presentable binary relations: transitivity and classification results

Automatic presentations, also called FA-presentations, were introduced to extend finite model theory to infinite structures whilst retaining the solubility of fundamental decision problems. A particular focus of research has been the classification of those structures of some species that admit FA-presentations. Whilst some successes have been obtained, this appears to be a difficult problem in general. A restricted problem, also of significant interest, is to ask this question for unary FA-presentations: that is, FA-presentations over a one-letter alphabet. This paper studies unary FA-presentable binary relations. It is proven that transitive closure of a unary FA-presentable binary relation is itself unary FA-presentable. Characterizations are then given of unary FA-presentable binary relations, quasi-orders, partial orders, tournaments, directed trees and forests, undirected trees and forests, and the orbit structures of unary FA-presentable partial and complete mappings, injections, surjections, and bijections.

math.CO↗
arXiv2012

Subalgebras of FA-presentable algebras

Automatic presentations, also called FA-presentations, were introduced to extend finite model theory to infinite structures whilst retaining the solubility of fundamental decision problems. This paper studies FA-presentable algebras. First, an example is given to show that the class of finitely generated FA-presentable algebras is not closed under forming finitely generated subalgebras, even within the class of algebras with only unary operations. However, it is proven that a finitely generated subalgebra of an FA-presentable algebra with a single unary operation is itself FA-presentable. Furthermore, it is proven that the class of unary FA-presentable algebras is closed under forming finitely generated subalgebras, and that the membership problem for such subalgebras is decidable.

math.LO↗