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Ralph McKenzie

Publications and source records attributed to Ralph McKenzie.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

SMB algebras II: On the Constraint Satisfaction Problem over Semilattices of Mal'cev Blocks

We define a class of algebras, the semilattices of Mal'cev blocks (for short, SMB algebras). In a nutshell, these algebras are semilattices in which each element gets blown up into a Mal'cev algebra. We publish for the first time our old proofs that some SMB algebras induce tractable templates of the reprove that the Constraint Satisfaction Problem. Next, we reprove that, in fact, all SMB algebras induce tractable templates of the Constraint Satisfaction Problem, a result already proved by A. Bulatov. Also, we compare the two general proofs of the CSP Dichotomy and prove they are more similar than initially thought when they are applied to SMB algebras. This paper is the second in the series of papers investigating the SMB algebras and it is a precursor to our further research on the similarities between the proofs of the Dichotomy Theorem.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2015

Absorption and directed Jónsson terms

We prove that every congruence distributive variety has directed Jónsson terms, and every congruence modular variety has directed Gumm terms. The directed terms we construct witness every case of absorption witnessed by the original Jónsson or Gumm terms. This result is equivalent to a pair of claims about absorption for admissible preorders in CD and CM varieties, respectively. For finite algebras, these absorption theorems have already seen significant applications, but until now, it was not clear if the theorems hold for general algebras as well. Our method also yields a novel proof of a result by P. Lipparini about the existence a chain of terms (which we call Pixley terms) in varieties that are at the same time congruence distributive and $k$-permutable for some $k$.

math.RA↗
arXiv2013

Strong solvability and residual finiteness for finitely decidable varieties

If V is a finitely generated variety such that the first-order theory of the finite members of V is decidable, we show that V is residually finite, and in fact has a finite bound on the sizes of subdirectly irreducible algebras. This result generalizes known results which assumed that V has modular congruence lattices. Our proof of the theorem in its full generality proceeds by showing that strongly solvable radicals of algebras in V are strongly abelian.

math.LO↗
arXiv2011

On the number of finite algebraic structures

We prove that every clone of operations on a finite set A, if it contains a Malcev operation, is finitely related -- i.e., identical with the clone of all operations respecting R for some finitary relation R over A. It follows that for a fixed finite set A, the set of all such Malcev clones is countable. This completes the solution of a problem that was first formulated in 1980, or earlier: how many Malcev clones can finite sets support? More generally, we prove that every finite algebra with few subpowers has a finitely related clone of term operations. Hence modulo term equivalence and a renaming of the elements, there are only countably many finite algebras with few subpowers, and thus only countably many finite algebras with a Malcev term.

math.RA↗