When the catenary degree agrees with the tame degree in numerical semigroups of embedding dimension three. (Q2352932)

Let \(S\) be a numerical semigroup (a cofinite submonoid of \((\mathbb N,+)\)), and let \(\{n_1,\ldots,n_p\}\) be the unique minimal generating system of \(S\). A \(p\)-tuple \(x=(x_1,\ldots,x_p)\in\mathbb N^p\) such that \(s=x_1n_1+\cdots+x_pn_p\) is known as a \textit{factorization} of \(s\). If \(x=(x_1,\ldots,x_p)\) and \(y=(y_1,\ldots,y_p)\) are factorizations of \(s\), the distance between \(x\) and \(y\) is defined as \(d(x,y)=\max\{|x-\gcd(x,y)|,|y-\gcd(x,y)|\}\), where \(\gcd(x,y)=(\min\{x_1,y_1\},\ldots,\min\{x_p,y_p\})\) is the common part of \(x\) and \(y\) and \(|x|=x_1+\cdots+x_p\). Denote the set of factorizations of \(s\) by \(\mathsf Z(s)\). The \textit{catenary degree} of \(S\), denoted by \(\mathsf c(S)\), is the least integer \(c\) such that for every \(x,y\) factorizations of an element \(s\in S\), there exists a sequence of factorizations of \(s\) joining them whose consecutive links are closer to \(c\). The \textit{tame degree} of \(S\), denoted by \(\mathsf t(S)\), is the least integer \(t\) such that for any \(s\in S\) and any factorization \(x\) of \(s\) containing a certain \(n_i\), there exists another factorization \(y\) of \(s\) containing \(n_i\) and such that \(d(x,y)\leq t\). For \(s\in S\) we can build a graph from the factorizations of \(S\) by linking the \(x,y\) such that \(|\gcd(x,y)|\neq 0\); the connected components of this graph are called \(\mathcal R\)-classes. An element of \(S\) is said to be a \textit{Betti element} if its associated graph has more than one \(\mathcal R\)-class. In general \(\mathsf c(S)\leq\mathsf t(S)\). In the article under review, the authors investigate the numerical semigroups \(S=\langle n_1,n_2,n_3\rangle\), where \(n_1<n_2<n_3\), for which the equality \(\mathsf c(S)=\mathsf t(S)\) holds. Defining, for \(\{i,j,k\}=\{1,2,3\}\), the integers \(c_i=\min\{K\in\mathbb Z^+\mid Kn_i\in\langle n_j,n_k\rangle\}\), in this setting \(\text{Betti}(S)=\{c_1n_1,c_2n_2,c_3n_3\}\), and thus \(|\text{Betti}(S)|\leq 3\). Since it has been proved by \textit{V. Blanco} et al. [Ill. J. Math. 55, No. 4, 1385-1414 (2011; Zbl 1279.20072)] that \(\mathsf c(S)=\mathsf t(S)\) if \(|\text{Betti}(S)|=3\), the authors explore whether the equality holds for \(|\text{Betti}(S)|\in\{1,2\}\), by studying the factorizations and \(\mathcal R\)-classes associated to every possible configuration of the Betti elements of \(S\) under this assumption. Their analysis provides a complete characterization for \(3\)-generated numerical semigroups such that \(\mathsf c(S)=\mathsf t(S)\), and shows that the equality holds if and only if \(|\text{Betti}(S)|\neq 2\) or \(c_1n_1\neq c_2n_2=c_3n_3\) and \(c_2n_2\mid c_1n_1\).