Nearly prime subsemigroups of \(\beta\mathbb{N}\) (Q1902163)

Let \({\mathbf x} = \langle x_n\rangle_{n = 1}^{\infty}\) be a sequence in \(\mathbb{N}\), \({\mathbf x}_m = \langle x_n\rangle_{n = m}^{\infty}\). For each \(m \in \mathbb{N}\), let \[ FS({\mathbf x}_m) = \{\Sigma_{n \setminus F} : F \text{ is a finite nonempty subset of } \mathbb{N}, \text{ and } \min F \geq m\}. \] Then \(M({\mathbf x}) = \bigcap_{m = 1}^{\infty} cl(FS({\mathbf x}_m))\). The sequence \(\mathbf x\) is divisible iff, for each \(n \in \mathbb{N}\), \(x_{n+1} > x_n > 1\) and \(x_n\) divides \(x_{n+1}\). For such a sequence, let \({\mathbf a} = \langle a_n\rangle = \langle x_{n+1}/x_n\rangle\). Now \(M = M({\mathbf x})\) is a compact subsemigroup of \(\beta \mathbb{N}\) for any sequence \(\mathbf x\). Assume \(x_{n+1} > \Sigma_{t = 1}^n x_t\) for each \(n\), and let \(p, q \in \beta\mathbb{N}\). If \(q \in M\) and \(p + q \in M\), then \(p \in M\). Furthermore, if \(\mathbf x\) is divisible, \(a_n \geq 4\) for each \(n\), and \(p + q, q + p \in M\), then \(p, q \in M + {\mathbf Z}\). For divisible \(\mathbf x\) and \(A \subset \mathbb{N}\), let \(S_A = \{n: \text{supp}(n) \subset A\}\), and for \(s \in \mathbb{N}^*\), \(M_s = \bigcap_{A \in s} (M({\mathbf x}) \cap cl (S_A))\). If \(\mathbf x\) is divisible and \(a_n\) is frequently greater than 2, \(s, p, q \in \mathbb{N}^*\) with \(q + p \in M_s\), then \(p, q \in M_s + {\mathbf Z}\). Define the order \(\leq_R\) on \(\beta \mathbb{N}\) by \(p \leq_R q\) iff \(p = q\) or \(p = q + p\). \textit{W. A. F. Ruppert} [Compact semitopological semigroups: An intrinsic theory, Lect. Notes Math. 1079, Berlin (1984; Zbl 0606.22001)] proved the existence of ultrafilters maximal in that order. It is shown here that there are \(2^{\mathbf c}\) such maximal ultrafilters. Moreover, if \(e = e + e \in \beta \mathbb{N}\) and we assume that, whenever \(f \in \beta \mathbb{N}\) with \(f \in \beta \mathbb{N} + f\) and \(e \leq_R f\), one has \(f \leq_R e\), it follows that \(C = \{f : e \leq_R f\}\) is a finite right zero semigroup. Also, for such an \(e\), if \(C = \{f : e = f + e\}\) is a finite right zero semigroup with \(|C |= n\), then, for each \(p \in \beta \mathbb{N}\), \(|\{f : f + e = p\} |= 0\), \(n\), or \(n + 1\). An ultrafilter \(p\) is called strongly summable iff for every \(A \in p\), and every sequence \(\mathbf x\) such that \(FS({\mathbf x}) \subset A\), we have \(FS({\mathbf x}) \in p\); it is called divisibly strongly summable iff \(p\) is strongly summable and the sequence \(\mathbf x\) is divisible. The existence of divisibly strongly summable ultrafilters which share any fewer than \(\mathbf c\) members with any idempotent is proved under MA, and a separate proof under CH is provided. Let \(E = \{p : p\) is strongly summable and \(q + p \neq p \neq p + q\) for all \(q \neq p\}\). Then \(E\) is dense in the set of idempotents. For divisibly strongly summable ultrafilters \(p\), if \(r \in \bigcap_{n = 1}^\infty cl \mathbb{N} n\) and \(p = q + r\), then \(q = r = p\); if \(q \neq p\), then \(p + q \neq p\). Finally, a class of ultrafilters called ``special divisibly strongly summable'' is defined, and it is shown that any decomposition of such an ultrafilter into a sum is trivial.