Inside factorial monoids and the Cale monoid of a linear Diophantine equation (Q2419476)

The paper deals with the structure of a class of commutative monoids, called inside factorial monoids, and with monoids that arise as non-negative solutions to a linear Diophantine equation. An inside factorial monoid \(M\) with base \(Q\) is a cancellative commutative monoid \(M\) together with a subset of non-units \(Q\subseteq M\) such that \begin{itemize} \item for every \(x \in M\) there exist \(n \in \mathbb{N}\) and a unit \(u\in M\) such that \(nx \in u \langle Q \rangle\); \item if \(u + \sum_{q\in Q} \lambda_q q = u' + \sum_{q\in Q} \lambda'_{q} q\), with \(u,u'\in M\) units, \(\lambda_q,\lambda'_q \in \mathbb{N}\), then \(\lambda_q=\lambda'_q\) for all \(q\). \end{itemize} Let \(G(M)\) denote the quotient group of \(M\). The monoid \(M\) is said to be root-closed if \(nz\in M\), with \(n \in\mathbb{N}\) and \(z \in G(M)\), implies that \(z\in M\). The Apéry set of \(M\) with respect to \(Q\) is \(\mathrm{Ap}(M,Q) = M \setminus (Q+M)\). In Theorem 3, the authors show that a reduced root-closed inside factorial monoid \(M\) with base \(Q\) decomposes as a product of \(\mathrm{Ap}(M,Q)\) and the free monoid \(\langle Q \rangle\). Moreover, the authors endow \(\mathrm{Ap}(M,Q)\) with a certain function \(I : \mathrm{Ap}(M,Q)\times \mathrm{Ap}(M,Q) \rightarrow \langle Q \rangle\), which allows them to establish a sort of converse of Theorem 3. More precisely, it is proved in Theorem 7 that, for each torsion abelian group \(G\) and free monoid \(F\), a function \(I : G \times G \rightarrow F\) with certain conditions defines a structure of reduced root-closed inside factorial monoid on \(G \times F\). Next, the authors consider equations of the form \( a_1 x_1 + a_2 x_2 + \cdots + a_{s} x_{s} \equiv 0 \pmod{a_{s+1}}\), where \(a_i \in \mathbb{N}^+\). The set of non-negative solutions \((x_1, \ldots, x_{s})\) form a Cale monoid, which is a special type of reduced inside factorial monoid. The authors focus on the case \(s=2\), motivated by the paper [\textit{E. B. Elliott}, Q. J. Pure Appl. Math. 34, 348--377 (1902; JFM 34.0219.01)].