Homomorphisms and kernels of semifields (Q2639146)

An algebra \((S,+,\cdot)\) is called a semiring if \((S,+)\) and (S,\(\cdot)\) are semigroups and \((a+b)c=ac+bc\), \(c(a+b)=ca+cb\) hold for all a,b,c\(\in S\). A semiring S is called a semifield if \((S^*,\cdot)\) is a group, where \(S^*=S\setminus \{0\}\) if S has a zero 0, and \(S^*=S\) otherwise. If \(S=S^*\), then the semifield S is said to be proper ({\S}1. Introduction and {\S}2. Preliminaries on semifields). Every congruence \(\rho\) on a proper semifield \((S,+,\cdot)\) corresponds to a normal subgroup K of (S,\(\cdot)\) for which \(a\rho b\Leftrightarrow ab^{-1}\in K\) defines a congruence on \((S,+)\). Such normal subgroups are called kernels and are characterized by several conditions depending only on the operations of \((S,+,\cdot)\). The authors prove that a kernel K of a semifield \((S,+,\cdot)\) is a subsemifield of S iff the corresponding epimorphic image \((S/K,+,\cdot)\) has idempotent addition ({\S}3. General statements on homomorphisms and kernels). In the first part of {\S}4 (Connections to partial orders on semifields) the authors introduce the concept of a partially ordered semifield \((S,+,\cdot,\leq)\). They obtain a large class of proper semifields \((S,+,\cdot)\) which can be considered as p.o. semifields \((S,+,\cdot,\leq)\) with respect to a certain relation \(\leq\), called the natural partial order of \((S,+,\cdot)\), f.e. every semifield with commutative addition can be naturally partially ordered in this way. The smallest idempotent (semilattice) congruence on \((S,+)\) is a congruence on \((S,+,\cdot)\). The authors describe the kernels corresponding to such congruences in the case of semifields ({\S}5. Kernels which are subsemifields). It is well known that a semiring \((S,+,\cdot)\) is embeddable into a ring iff \((S,+)\) is commutative and cancellative. In this case, the smallest ring \((D(S),+,\cdot)\) of this kind is uniquely determined (up to isomorphisms leaving S fixed). In {\S}6 (Homomorphisms of subsemifields of rings) the authors describe the interrelations between congruences of S and D(S). A proper semifield which is an algebraic extension of an archimedean cone and embeddable into a field has only trivial kernels. In {\S}7 (Kernels of simple transcendental semifield extensions) the authors consider such extensions. This article has many good theorems, a wealth of examples and one conjecture.