Les cogroupes et la construction de Utumi. (Cogroups and the Utumi construction) (Q1114026)

Using multiplicators, a criterion is established for a cogroup to be ``Utumi'' i.e. obtainable from a D-hypergroup by Utumi's partition method. Several constructions are then given of various families of cogroups, finite or infinite, which are not ``Utumi'', and this answers a question raised by \textit{S. D. Comer} [J. Algebra 89, 397-405 (1984; Zbl 0543.20059)]. On with a few more details now. A hypergroup is a set H together with a multivalued multiplication (the product \(x\cdot y\) being a subset of H) which is required to be associative and satisfy the identities \(x.H=H.x=H\) for every element x in H. A cogroup is a hypergroup of a special kind. The notion was introduced by Eaton (1940) as a natural ``multivalued'' generalization of the notion of group. Eaton noticed that any D-hypergroup is a cogroup, and asked for an example of a cogroup which would not be a D-hypergroup. Utumi (1949) starting from the eight element cyclic group \((G,+)\) and a partition of that group, defined the operation \(x.y=x+cl(y)\) where cl(y) is the class of y in the partition, and showed that (G,.) is a cogroup not a D-hypergroup. Comer (1984) asked if every cogroup is ``Utumi''. The answer is no. The above-mentioned criterion reads as follows: A cogroup is ``Utumi'' if and only if there is a group of multiplicators which acts transitively on it. This and many other germane results are stated and proved in the paper. Full constructions of examples are given, namely the first examples of cogroups which are not ``Utumi''. The results extend, in fact, to ``hypergroups of type C'' (a generalization of cogroups due to Sureau (1983)), and the paper encompasses the still larger domain of ``not necessarily associative hypergroups'' (here called ``hypermagmas''). Utumi's construction is presented in this general setting. Given also is a characterization for a permutation group to be a multiplicator group. In the case of hypermagmas of type C, it is shown that those multiplicators which fix the unity (called here ``special multiplicators'') are precisely the automorphisms which preserve the natural partition. A general construction is worked out for obtaining any ``Utumi cogroup from a group and a suitable equivalence.