A characterization of set representable labeled partial 2-structures through decompositions (Q1173685)

This paper is a direct continuation of the study of labeled partial 2- structures initiated by the same authors in their previous papers [same journal 27, 315-342 (1990); 27, 343-368 (1990)] and it does assume familiarity with these papers. Most important from those papers is the identification of a central subclass of a class of labeled partial 2- structures: the subclass of set representable labeled partial 2- structures. First, the notion of the (\(n\)-ary) product of (initialized) labeled partial 2-structures is introduced and illustrated by examples. Second, the definition of decomposability of an (initialized) labeled partial 2- structure into (initialized) labeled partial 2-structures is given and illustrated by examples. The main result of the paper is the characterization of set representable (initialized) labeled partial 2- structures as those (initialized) labeled partial 2-structures which are decomposable into a finite set of binary switches (which are the ``simplest'' non trivial (initialized) labeled partial 2-structures). The paper ends with some indication of points which deserve further investigation.