A class of inherently nonfinitely based semirings (Q1013983)

A locally finite variety \(V\) of general algebras is called inherently nonfinitely based (abbreviated INFB) if any locally finite variety \(V' \supseteq V\) is nonfinitely based, while an algebra \(A\) is INFB if \(V(A)\) is, the variety generated by \(A\). It is known that whenever we find an INFB algebra inside \(V\), we can conclude that \(V\) is not finitely based. A semiring is an algebraic structure \((\Sigma, +,\cdot, 0)\) such that (1) \((\Sigma, +, 0)\) is a commutative monoid, (2) \((\Sigma,\cdot)\) is a semigroup, and (3) the distributive laws hold. If \((\Sigma, +)\) is a semilattice (i.e., if it is idempotent), then \(\Sigma\) is an additively idempotent semiring (ai-semiring for short). If \(\Sigma\) is an ai-semiring and \(X\) is an alphabet then a quasi-order relation \(\preceq_\Sigma\) on the free semigroup \(X^+\) is defined: for two words \(u, v \in X^+\), \(u \preceq v\) if and only if \(\Sigma\) satisfies the identity \(u + v = v\). A word \(u\) is minimal (with respect to \(\Sigma\)) if for all words \(w\),\ \(w \preceq u\) implies \(w \equiv u\). A minimal word \(u\) such that for all words \(w\),\ \(u\preceq w\) implies \(u \equiv w\), is called isolated. The sequence of Zimin words are defined inductively by \(Z_1\equiv x_1\) and \(Z_{n+1} \equiv Z_nx_{n+1}Z_n\) for all \(n \geq 1\). Let \({\mathcal R}_n\), \(n\geq 2\), denote the semiring of binary relations on an \(n\)-element set. The main results of the paper are the following: Theorem A. The semiring \({\mathcal R}_2\) is INFB. Theorem B. Let \(\Sigma\) be an ai-semiring generating a locally finite variety such that all Zimin words are isolated with respect to \(\Sigma\). Then \(\Sigma\) is INFB. As a matter of fact, in the paper Theorem B is proved and several applications of this result are exhibited. Among other things, Theorem A is proved simply by verifying that all Zimin words are isolated with respect to \({\mathcal R}_2\). Notice that since \({\mathcal R}_2\) obviously embeds into \({\mathcal R}_n\) for each \(n\geq 2\), the latter semirings are INFB, too. In particular, they are nonfinitely based.