Rigid extensions of algebraic frames (Q976748)

An algebraic frame is said to have FIP in case the meet of two compact elements is compact. By an extension, the author means a pair \((L,M)\) where \(L\) and \(M\) are algebraic frames with FIP, and \(L\) is a subframe of \(M\). This is abbreviated as \(L\leq M\). Such an extension is said to be rigid if for every compact element of \(M\) there is a compact element of \(L\) with the same polar, where polar means what is traditionally referred to as pseudocomplement. An element of an algebraic frame is called a \(d\)-element if it is covered by double-polars of compact elements below it. The symbol \(dL\) denotes the set of all \(d\)-elements of \(L\). Denote by \(\mathfrak{K}(A)\) the set of compact elements of an algebraic frame \(A\). For an extension \(L\leq M\), the map \(\phi\colon dM\to dL\) is defined by \[ \phi(x)={\bigvee}\{c^{\prime\prime}\mid c\in\mathfrak{K}(L),\;c\leq x\}, \] where \((\cdot)^{\prime}\) denotes the polar in the subframe. A beautiful characterization of rigidity states: An extension \(L\leq M\) is rigid iff \(\phi\colon dM\to dL\) is a frame isomorphism. The set of minimal primes of an algebraic frame comes with two topologies. One is the familiar hull-kernel topology, and the other, called the inverse topology, takes for its basic open sets the basic closed sets of the hull-kernel topology. Importing the notions of \(r\)- and \(r^{*}\)-extensions from \(\ell\)-groups, the author characterizes the frame-theoretic versions of these types of extensions in algebraic frames with FIP in terms of inverse topologies. These pretty much parallel similar characterizations were obtained for \(\ell\)-groups by her teacher, \textit{W. Wm. McGovern} [``Neat rings'', J. Pure Appl. Algebra 205, No.~2, 243--265 (2006; Zbl 1095.13025)]. Algebraic frames have, in recent times, received a great deal of attention (some might even say ``onslaught'') from authors such as Jorge Martínez and Eric Zenk, among others. The paper under review is a truly worthy contribution to this vibrant subject. It is well-written, with a number of illuminating examples.