Numerical semigroups. (Q1031556): Difference between revisions

The theory of numerical semigroups has developed extensively over the last two decades with many research papers appearing in that time. Unfortunately, there has never been a standard place to go to find state-of-the-art results in the area, or to find a consistent presentation of notation and background material. \textit{Numerical Semigroups} very effectively fills this gap in the literature. It is now my standard reference for this material and will likely remain so for many years. This book gives a very readable account of a topic that should be more widely known and will be useful to both researchers in the area and students new to the subject. A numerical semigroup is an additive submonoid of \(\mathbb N_0\) with finite complement in \(\mathbb N_0\). An equivalent definition of numerical semigroups can be given in terms of generating sets. Let \(A=\{a_1,\dots,a_n\}\) be a set of nonnegative integers with greatest common divisor \(1\). The numerical semigroup generated by \(A\) is the set of all linear combinations of elements of \(A\) with nonnegative coefficients. It is an elementary fact that every numerical semigroup has a unique minimal generating set, one for which no \(a_i\) can be written as a sum of other elements of \(A\). Many mathematicians will be familiar with the linear Diophantine problem of Frobenius. What is the largest positive integer which cannot be written as a sum of the natural numbers \(\{a_1,\dots,a_n\}\) with nonnegative coefficients? Unfortunately, for many people this is all that they see in the theory of numerical semigroups. While the Frobenius problem is discussed here, particularly in the case of numerical semigroups with three minimal generators, it is not the focus of the book. (For a very nice treatment of this problem and its history see the book of \textit{J. L. Ramírez Alfonsín} [The Diophantine Frobenius problem. Oxford Lecture Series in Mathematics and its Applications 30. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2005; Zbl 1134.11012)].) \textit{Numerical Semigroups} is the first available text devoted entirely to the development of the theory of these semigroups and covers many more topics than just the Frobenius problem. \textit{Numerical Semigroups} has chapters addressing a broad array of questions about these interesting mathematical objects. We give a few examples. Which numerical semigroups cannot be written as an intersection of two numerical semigroups properly containing it? What is the structure of the set of solutions to the inequality \(ax\pmod b\leq cx\), where \(a,b\) and \(c\) are fixed positive integers? What conditions does a monoid need to satisfy in order to be isomorphic to a numerical semigroup? Some questions feel more closely related to commutative algebra, while others are closer to number theory and combinatorics. The book is very self-contained and requires little more background than a basic knowledge of algebra. The proofs are exceptionally clear. Difficult arguments are broken down into shorter lemmas so that very few proofs in the book are longer than a page. A great feature of this book is that many helpful and detailed examples are provided in the text, and many more appear in sets of exercises given at the end of most chapters. These exercises range from routine verifications of material in the text to results of recent research papers, and greatly add to the overall understanding of the material. The authors also provide several explicit algorithms for working with numerical semigroups and describe how one might do computations in this area with their very useful package in the computer algebra system \texttt{GAP}. They also mention some interesting open problems. The exposition in the book is very good and can be followed even by talented undergraduates. Each chapter has its own clear theme and chapters build on each other in logical fashion. The authors do a good job of indicating where numerical semigroups have connections to other areas without losing focus or requiring extra background. Numerical semigroups arise in the study of algebraic geometry, commutative algebra, number theory, coding theory, and in other areas as well. However, this is a book primarily about the theory of the semigroups themselves. Relationships to other areas are mentioned and many helpful references are given so that the interested reader can pursue these connections further. I will provide a summary of the topics covered. In the first chapter, background material is set up and many of the key tools that will reappear later, such as the Apéry set of a semigroup, are introduced and analyzed. Particular attention is given to the Frobenius number and the genus, and some interesting open problems are stated. In Chapter 2, the authors focus on semigroups with maximal embedding dimension, those for which the number of minimal generators is equal to the smallest nonzero element. It is shown that this class of semigroups can be used to represent the entire class of numerical semigroups. The authors also introduce two further subclasses of these maximal embedding dimension semigroups, Arf numerical semigroups and saturated numerical semigroups. These concepts provide examples of material in the study of numerical semigroups motivated by connections to commutative algebra. The authors then discuss the question of when a numerical semigroup cannot be written as an intersection of numerical semigroups properly containing it. These are known as the irreducible numerical semigroups and contain some other interesting classes, such as the complete intersection numerical semigroups, which are studied in Chapter 8 and are related to the concept of a complete intersection in algebraic geometry. Chapter 4 focuses on a more number-theoretic question. A proportionally modular Diophantine inequality is an inequality of the form \(ax\pmod b\leq cx\) where \(a,b\) and \(c\) are positive integers. The set of all \(x\) satisfying such an inequality forms a numerical semigroup with interesting properties. An interesting issue that arises here is the study of Bezout sequences, which are similar to the Farey sequences that arise in the theory of continued fractions. Given a numerical semigroup, one can take any positive integer \(d\) and ask for a characterization of values \(k\) for which \(kd\) is in the semigroup. This set also forms a numerical semigroup, called the quotient of a numerical semigroup by a positive integer. In the fifth chapter, the authors describe what is known about such semigroups and describe some surprising open problems in this area. Chapter 6 shows how one can use a simple process to represent the set of all numerical semigroups as a tree, where the semigroups at depth \(g\) from the root are exactly the semigroups of genus \(g\). This type of tree representation works more generally for other classes of semigroups, including the Arf and the saturated semigroups. The authors discuss a general setting for such techniques, the study of Frobenius varieties. The authors then move to a more commutative algebraic setting in Chapter 7 and discuss presentations of numerical semigroups. One can write a numerical semigroup as a free monoid modulo a congruence. They discuss how to produce these congruence relations, particularly congruence relations of minimal size, giving an explicit algorithm that is contained in their \texttt{GAP} package. The eighth chapter discusses gluings of numerical semigroups. In cases where there is a presentation of a certain type, we are able to partition the generating set \(A\) of a semigroup into two parts and gain information about the semigroup generated by \(A\) by studying the semigroups generated by each of the two parts. Chapter 9 is the most computational chapter of the book giving explicit formulas for the Frobenius number of a semigroup with three minimal generators. It is an elementary exercise going back to Sylvester in the 19th century to determine the Frobenius number of a semigroup with two generators. For three generators finding a nice expression for the Frobenius number is already quite a difficult task. The arguments in this section illuminate the fact that numerical semigroups quickly become complicated and that there are some very subtle mathematical issues lurking behind these simple looking structures. The final chapter returns to a more commutative algebraic viewpoint, starting with a theorem of Levin about multiple joined semigroups and eventually giving several equivalent characterizations of monoids isomorphic to numerical semigroups. \textit{Numerical Semigroups} covers a wide spectrum of topics but always maintains clarity in its exposition and in the presentation of proofs. It is enjoyable and easy to read and serves as both a good way to learn a new subject for those who do not know much about the area, and a very useful research reference for experts.