Profinite topologies (Q2074218)

Profinite algebras are inverse limits of inverse systems of finite algebras and have become an important tool in the theory of finite automata. Here. the authors present an overview of research carried out in this area -- precise definitions and most significant results without proofs, for proofs references to original papers are indicated. The first chapter is an introduction to the theory and contains definitions from abstract algebra (signature, homomorphism, syntactic congruence, variety, pseudovariety, pseudoquasivariety, recognizable subset) and topology (pseudometric and uniform spaces, nets, continuity, compactness). In the second chapter this machinery is used to consider universal algebras, e.g. to present Reiterman's theorem [\textit{J. Reiterman}, Algebra Univers. 14, 1--10 (1982; Zbl 0484.08007)], ``A subclass of a pseudovariety \(V\) is a pseudovariety iff it is defined by some set of pseudoidentities for \(V\)'', and various results on decidability. In the third chapter the authors consider semigroups -- the area that is most important for automata and language theory. Because of its importance in practice, a vast number of papers in this area have been published, thus the authors remark that ``results mentioned in this section by no means cover entirely the literature in the area that is presently available. In particular, we stick to the more classical case of semigroups''; for instance, they leave aside ordered semigroups or stamps. Here they consider computing profinite closures and tameness. In the fourth chapter they consider relatively free profinite semigroups: connections with symbolic dynamics and closed subgroups of relatively free profinite semigroups. The paper has an extensive list of references (109) and for the referenced papers also their q.v. (quod vide) are indicated, i.e., other pages where this paper is relevant. For the entire collection see [Zbl 1470.68001].