Varieties with a difference term (Q1904245)

A difference term of a variety \({\mathcal V}\) of algebras is a term \(d(x,y,z)\) which satisfies \(d(x,x,y) = y\) and \(d(x,y,y) [\theta, \theta] x\) for any algebra \(\mathbb{A} \in {\mathcal V}\), where \([-,-]\) is the commutator and \(\theta\) is any congruence of \(\mathbb{A}\) containing \((x,y)\). In the paper, characterizations of varieties with a difference term and an outline of the commutator theory for such varieties are given. The concepts and notations of \textit{D. Hobby} and \textit{R. McKenzie} [The structure of finite algebra (1988; Zbl 0721.08001)] are used. The main results are the following theorems. Theorem 1.1. Let \({\mathcal V}\) be a variety such that \(\mathbb{F}_{\mathcal V} (2)\) is finite. Then \({\mathcal V}\) has a difference term iff for all finite \(\mathbb{A} \in {\mathcal V}\) it the case that (i) \(\mathbf{1} \notin \text{typ} \{\mathbb{A}\}\) and (ii) all type \textbf{2} minimal sets of \(\mathbb{A}\) have empty tail. Theorem 1.2. A locally finite variety \({\mathcal V}\) is congruence neutral iff \(\text{typ} \{\mathbb{A}\} \subseteq \{\text{\textbf{3},\textbf{4},\textbf{5}}\}\) for all finite \(\mathbb{A} \in {\mathcal V}\). A locally finite variety \({\mathcal V}\) is congruence modular iff (i) \(\text{typ} \{\mathbb{A}\} \subseteq \{\text{\textbf{2},\textbf{3},\textbf{4}}\}\) for all finite \(\mathbb{A} \in {\mathcal V}\) and (ii) all minimal sets have empty tail. (The congruence identity \([\alpha, \beta] = \alpha \wedge \beta\) is called neutral.) Theorem 1.3. If \({\mathcal V}\) has a difference term and \(\mathbb{A} \in {\mathcal V}\) and \(\alpha, \beta, \gamma \in \text{Con} \mathbb{A}\) and \(\alpha \geq \gamma\), then the interval \(I [(\alpha \wedge \beta) \vee \gamma,\;\alpha \wedge (\beta \vee \gamma)]\) is neutral. (An interval \(I [\delta, \theta]\) in \(\text{Con} \mathbb{A}\) is neutral if whenever \(\delta \leq \mu \leq \nu \leq \theta\) and \(C (\nu, \nu; \mu)\) holds, we have \(\mu = \nu.)\) Notice that Theorem 1.1 solves the problem posed by Lipparini on a local description of those locally finite varieties which have a difference term.