On the size of independent systems of equations in semigroups (Q1351001)

Compactness properties, that is properties which although originally specified by an infinite number of conditions are actually specified by a finite subset of these conditions, are of crucial importance in mathematics. One such property has been revealed recently, namely that any system of equations (with a finite number of unknowns) is equivalent to one of its finite subsystems in a free monoid. Initially, this important property was stated by Ehrenfeucht in connection with formal languages. Namely, he conjectured that for any set of words \(L\) over a finite alphabet \(\Sigma\) there exists a finite subset of \(L\), say \(L'\), such that to test whether any two morphisms \(h,g\colon\Sigma^*\to\Sigma^*\) satisfy ``\(h(x)=g(x)\) for all \(x\) in \(L\)'' it is enough to do that on \(L'\). It turned out, that this compactness property of languages is equivalent to the above compactness property of free monoids. A bit later, these properties were shown to be true, essentially as a consequence of the Hilbert basis theorem. Still another formulation of the above compactness result is as follows: Each independent system of equations (with a finite number of unknowns) over a free monoid is finite. Our goal here is to estimate the maximal size \(F(n)\) of such systems in terms of the number \(n\) of unknowns. We do this, not only in free monoids, but also in different semigroups and groups.