Compact totally disconnected k-divisible semigroups (Q1095262)

One of the early results regarding divisibility in semigroups is that no finite non-degenerate group is divisible. A sequel to this is that a compact semigroup is divisible if and only if each component is a divisible subsemigroup. Consequently, a compact totally disconnected semigroup is divisible if and only if it is an idempotent semigroup. However, it is of some interest to know which compact totally disconnected semigroups are k-divisible for some positive integer \(k\geq 2.\) In this paper we present a characterization of finite k-divisible semigroups, and employ this along with other results to give a complete characterization of compact totally disconnected k-divisible semigroups. It is proved that a compact totally disconnected semigroup S is k- divisible if and only if S is the union of compact k-divisible groups each of which is a projective limit of finite groups whose orders are relatively prime to k.