Diagonal ranks of semigroups. (Q2350944)

Let \(S\) be a semigroup. The Cartesian product \(S^n=S\times\cdots\times S\) (\(n\) times) is considered as a right act of \(S\) as follows: \((a_1,\ldots,a_n)s=(a_1s,\ldots,a_ns)\). Such an act is called a right diagonal act of order \(n\). Analogously, the left act and the bi-act are defined. The purpose of the paper is ``to continue a study of diagonal acts over arbitrary semigroups''. The following notions are introduced. The \(n\)-order right diagonal rank of \(S\) is the least cardinality of the subsets \(A\subseteq S^n\) such that \(AS^1=S^n\), where \(S^1=S\) if \(S\) is a monoid, and \(S=S\cup\{1\}\) otherwise. The left diagonal rank and the bidiagonal rank are defined analogously. The diagonal ranks are considered as numerical semigroup characteristics and are investigated for some classes of semigroups. An upper bound of an \(n\)-order right diagonal rank of a semigroup \(S\) is obtained if \(S\) has a finitely generated right act. It is proved that a diagonal act over an infinite quasi-periodic semigroup cannot be cyclic. For some classic semigroups, all generating sets of diagonal acts are described.