Sets satisfying the central sets theorem (Q2655463): Difference between revisions

A subset \(C\) in a discrete semigroup \(S\) is called central if it belongs to some idempotent in the smallest two-sided ideal of \(\beta S\). These sets have strong combinatorial properties by the central set theorem, due in its original form to Furstenberg. There are other sets satisfying the conclusion of this theorem, so the authors introduce the term \(C\)-sets for all sets with this property. They show that many semigroups contain \(C\)-sets with zero Følner density. E.g., this is true for sums of countably many finite Abelian groups and for subsemigroups of the reals containing the integers. Existence of such \(C\)-sets carries over from two semigroups to their Cartesian product if both factors are left cancellative or if one of them has a left identity. On the other hand, it is shown that for a commutative semigroup \(S\), any idempotent in \(\beta S\) whose members have positive density consists of \(C\)-sets. The case \(S = \mathbb N\) of this result is due to \textit{M. Beiglböck, V. Bergelson, T. Downarowicz} and \textit{A. Fish} [Topology Appl. 156, No. 16, 2565--2571 (2009; Zbl 1231.05269)]. The last section provides an elementary proof of the known theorem that any commutative semigroup satisfies the strong Følner condition.