Existence theorems for weakly symmetric operations (Q1001467)

A \(k\)-ary weak near-unanimity operation (or \(k\)-WNU) on a set \(A\) is an operation \(w\) that satisfies the equations \(w(x,\dots,x)= x\) and \(w(y,x,\dots, x)= w(x,y,x,\dots, x)= w(x,x,\dots, x,y)\). An algebra \({\mathbf A}\) is said to satisfy \(\text{WNU}(k)\) if it has a \(k\)-WNU term operation, and likewise, a variety is said to satisfy \(\text{WNU}(k)\) if it has a \(k\)-variable term satisfying these equations (in particular, this is a Mal'tsev condition). Congruence covers of types \(\mathbf 1\) and \(\mathbf 2\) -- in the sense of tame congruence theory -- are defined in the book by \textit{D. Hobby} and \textit{R. McKenzie} [The structure of finite algebra. Contemporary Mathematics, 76. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (1988; Zbl 0721.08001)]. The main results of the present paper are as follows. Theorem 1. Let \({\mathcal V}\) be a locally finite variety, then (1)--(3) are equivalent: (1) \({\mathcal V}\) omits type \(\mathbf 1\). (2) There is an integer \(k> 1\) such that \({\mathcal V}\) satisfies \(\text{WNU}(k)\). (3) There is an integer \(n> 1\) such that \({\mathcal V}\) satisfies \(\text{WNU}(k)\) for all \(k> 1\) with \(k\equiv 1\pmod n\). Corollary. Let \({\mathcal V}\) be a locally finite, congruence-modular variety, then there is an integer \(n> 1\) such that \({\mathcal V}\) satisfies \(\text{WNU}(k)\) for all \(k> 1\) with \(k\equiv 1\pmod n\). Theorem 2. Let \({\mathcal V}\) be a locally finite variety, then (1)--(4) are equivalent: (1) \({\mathcal V}\) omits types \(\mathbf 1\) and \(\mathbf 2\). (2) The congruence lattices of all algebras in \({\mathcal V}\) are meet semi-distributive. (3) There is an integer \(m> 1\) such that \({\mathcal V}\) satisfies \(\text{WNU}(k)\) for all \(k\geq m\). (4) For every positive integer \(n\) there is a positive integer \(m\) such that \({\mathcal V}\) satisfies \(\text{WNU}(k)\) for all \(k\) with \(m+ 1\leq k\leq m+ n\). Theorem 3. Every congruence-distributive variety satisfies \(\text{WNU}(k)\) for all integers \(k\geq 3\). In particular, Theorems 1 and 2 prove two conjectures by M. Valeriote. For the Corollary to Theorem 1, also a different proof is given along the lines of the proof of Theorem 3.