Nilsemigroup
In mathematics, and more precisely in semigroup theory, a nilsemigroup or a nilpotent semigroup is a semigroup whose every elements are nilpotent.
Definitions
Formally, a semigroup S is a nilsemigroup if:
- S contains 0 and
- for each element a∈S, there exists an integer k such that ak=0.
Finite nilsemigroups
Equivalent definitions exists for finite semigroup. A finite semigroup S is nilpotent if, equivalently:
- for each , where is the cardinality of S.
- The zero is the only idempotent of S.
Examples
The trivial semigroup of a single element is trivially a nilsemigroup.
The set of strictly upper triangular matrix, with matrix multiplication is nilpotent.
Let a bounded interval of positive real numbers. For x, y belonging to I, define as . We now show that is a nilsemigroup whose zero is n. For each natural number k, kx is equal to . Fork at least equal to , kx equals n. This example generalize for any bounded interval of an Archimedean ordered semigroup.
Properties
A non trivial nilsemigroup does not contain an identity element. It follows that the only nilpotent monoid is the trivial monoid.
The set of nilsemigroup is:
- closed under taking subsemigroup
- closed under taking quotient of subsemigroup
- closed under finite product
- but is not closed under arbitrary direct product. Indeed, take the semigroup , where is defined as above. The semigroup S is a direct product of nilsemigroup, however its contains no nilpotent element.
It follows that the set of nilsemigroup is not a variety of universal algebra. However, the set of finite nilsemigroup is a variety of finite semigroups. The variety of finite nilsemigroup is defined by the profinite equalities .
References
- Pin, Jean-Éric (2016-11-30). Mathematical Foundations of Automata Theory (PDF). p. 148.
- Grillet, P A (1995). Semigroups. CRC Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-8247-9662-4.