Equivalence structures and their automorphisms (Q1101821)

The paper concerns equivalence structures. An equivalence structure is an ordered pair (X,E), where X is a set and E is a set of equivalence relations on X with the property that for any two distinct elements x, y of X there exists exactly one equivalence \(e\in E\) such that (x,y)\(\in e\). The dimension of an equivalence e on a set X is the least cardinality of a set E of equivalences on X such that \(e\in E\) and (X,E) is an equivalence structure. For a finite equivalence structure (X,E) it is proved that its dimension is at most \(| X|\). An interrelation between equivalence structures and affine planes is shown. The automorphisms and the semi-automorphisms of an equivalence structure are defined; it is proved that every group is isomorphic to the automorphism group of some equivalence structure and also to the semi-automorphism group of some equivalence structure. The automorphism group of an equivalence structure is a normal subgroup of its semi-automorphism group.