Polyhedra of regular p-nary group problems (Q1121172)

The following problem is called a p-nary group problem (p a prime number): \[ Mt^*=b(mod p)\quad for\quad t^*\in Z^ n_+,\quad b\neq 0. \] The authors obtain similar results concerning this problem as those obtained by \textit{S. Chopra} and \textit{E. L. Johnson} [ibid. 38, 229-270 (1987; Zbl 0636.90064)], where p was any positive integer. The new assumption that p is a prime number gives the possibility to obtain some sharper results or simpler proofs. Also, the results connected with the description of the polyhedron \[ P(M,b)=Conv\{t^*\in Z^ n_+| \quad Mt^*=b(mod p)\} \] can be obtained more easily if p is a prime number. Particular interest is devoted to the special cases \(p=2\) and \(p=3\). The so called Fulkerson property as a generalization of the max- flow min-cut theorem of Ford and Fulkerson is introduced. Sufficient conditions under which the group problem has the Fulkerson property are given.