Enumerating numerical sets associated to a numerical semigroup (Q6069169): Difference between revisions

A \textit{numerical set} is a subset of the set \(\mathbb{N}_0\) of the non-negative integers that contains \(0\) and has a finite complement in \(\mathbb{N}_0\). A \textit{numerical semigroup} is a numerical set that is stable under addition. A numerical set \(T\) is associated with the set \(A(T)=\{x\in \mathbb{N}_0: x+T\subseteq T\}\), which is a numerical semigroup contained in \(T\). The numerical semigroup \(A(T)\) is called the \textit{atom monoid} of the numerical set \(T\). The paper under review is dedicated to the so-called \textit{Anti-Atom Problem} raised by \textit{J. Marzuola} and \textit{A. Miller} [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 117, No. 6, 650--667 (2010; Zbl 1227.05046)]. It asks, given a numerical semigroup \(S\), how many numerical sets \(T\) are associated with \(S\), that is, have \(A(T) = S\)? This number is denoted \(P(S)\). A pair of gaps of a numerical semigroup \(S\) whose sum is the Frobenius number of \(S\) is said to be a \textit{missing pair}. The set of gaps in missing pairs of \(S\), called the \textit{void} of \(S\), was introduced by \textit{H. Constantin} et al. [Springer Proc. Math. Stat. 220, 99--127 (2017; Zbl 1418.05018)]. The authors of the paper under review define a partial order in the void of a numerical semigroup (\(x\preceq y \text{ if }y-x \in S\)), thus obtaining the \emph{void poset}, which plays a fundamental role. A subset \(I\) of the void of \(S\) is an \textit{order ideal} if, for any \(x,y\) in the void of \(S\) satisfying \(x\preceq y\) and \(x\in I\), one has \(y\in I\). The authors obtain a characterisation of the order ideals \(I\) for which \(I\cup S\) is a numerical set associated with \(S\), a result that yields the algorithm to compute \(P(S)\) presented. A gap \(x\) of a numerical semigroup \(S\) such that \(x+S\setminus \{0\}\subseteq S\) is said to be a \textit{pseudo-Frobenius number} of \(S\). The number of pseudo-Frobenius numbers of a numerical semigroup is its \emph{type} and is denoted \(t(S)\). The authors completely analyse \(P(S)\) for semigroups of types \(1,2\) and \(3\), being the case of type \(3\), by far, the most difficult. In all these cases \(P(S)\) does not exceed \(4\). The authors observe that establishing a relationship between the type and \(P(S)\) when the type is larger is much more difficult, namely by showing: \begin{itemize} \item a numerical semigroup of type 4 can have \(P(S)\) arbitrarily large; \item given \(t \ge 2\), there is a numerical semigroup with \(t(S) = t\) and \(P(S) = 2\). \end{itemize} The paper ends with the computation of \(P(S)\) for a particular class (of triangle-free) numerical semigroups with maximal embedding dimension.