On certain cross varieties of aperiodic monoids with commuting idempotents. (Q2258465)

A variety of algebras is a \textit{Cross} variety if it is finitely generated, finitely based, and has finitely many subvarieties. A variety is \textit{almost Cross} if it is minimal among non-Cross varieties. The author [Beitr. Algebra Geom. 54, No. 1, 121-129 (2013; Zbl 1267.20083)] determined that within the class \(\mathcal A_{cen}\) of aperiodic monoids with central idempotents, there are three almost Cross varieties, \(\mathbf J_1\), \(\mathbf J_2\) and \(\mathbf L\), and here extends the investigation to the class \(\mathcal A_{com}\) of aperiodic monoids with commuting idempotents, beginning with those that satisfy the identity \(x^2yx=xyx^2\). This class includes the historically important variety generated by the monoid \(B_2^1\). It is in fact proven that the three given varieties are again the only almost Cross varieties within this restricted class. The author also shows that there must exist at least two further almost Cross subvarieties of \(\mathcal A_{com}\). The paper contains a wealth of useful technical information about the identities satisfied by various varieties relevant to the investigation.