Free groups in \(\beta\) N which miss the minimal ideal (Q1106955)

Let \(\beta\) N denote the Stone-Cech compactification of the set of positive integers N. It is known that the semigroup \((\beta N,+)\), where \(+\) is the unique left continuous extension of ordinary addition to \(\beta\) N which has N as its center, contains a minimal ideal M which is the smallest two sided ideal. The author shows that there exist \(2^ c\) copies of the free group on \(2^ c\) generators and a copy of the semigroup generated by the idempotents of \(\beta\) N outside of the closure of the minimal ideal.