Monoid intervals in lattices of clones (Q1918781)

For every clone \(C\) over a finite set \(A\), the family of all unary functions in \(C\) forms a monoid of transformations of \(A\). The author studies how the lattice of all clones is partitioned into intervals, where two clones belong to the same class (i.e. interval) iff they have the same monoid of unary functions. He investigates the problem of cardinalities of these intervals formulated formally by A. Szendrei. He gives examples of such intervals which are one-element, finite or have the cardinality of the continuum. It is proved that every lattice which is a direct product of countably many finite chains is isomorphic to some interval in the lattice of clones. An algebra \(A\) is \(E\)-minimal if the set of all idempotents in the monoid of transformations consists of all constant operations and the identity function. It is shown that there are \(2^{\aleph_0}\) pairwise nonequivalent \(E\)-minimal algebras on a finite set with more than two elements.