Modular retractions of numerical semigroups. (Q2447246)

Let \(\mathbb N\) denote the set of integers. A subset \(S\) of \(\mathbb N\) is said to be a numerical semigroup if it is closed under addition, \(0\in S\) and \(\mathbb N-S\) is a finite set. These objects have several interesting invariants, such as the genus \(g(S)\) of \(S\), being the size of \(\mathbb N-S\), the Frobenius number \(F(S)\) (being the biggest element of \(\mathbb N-S\)) and the type \(t(S)\), being the cardinality of the set \(\{x\in\mathbb N-S\mid x+(S-0)\subset S\}\). The authors of this paper introduce the concept of \textit{modular retraction}. The idea is that if \(S\) is a numerical semigroup, then one can consider \(R(S,a,m)=\{s-(as\bmod m)\}\), \(m\in S-0\), \(a\in\mathbb N-0\). If \(R(S,a,m)\) is a numerical semigroup as well, then the authors show that one can calculate the genus of \(S\) by calculating the genus of the ``smaller'' \(R(S,a,m)\). One can also estimate many other important invariants such as the Frobenius number and type. The authors also characterise the pairs \((a,m)\) such that \(R(S,a,m)\) is a numerical semigroup. Modular retractions is closely related to the so called \textit{modular translation}, also introduced by the same authors in a previous paper. A modular translation of \(S\) is the set \(T(S,a,m)=\{s+(as\bmod m)\}\), \(m\in S-0\), \(a\in\mathbb N-0\). But due to the fact that plus and minus are of course vastly different in semigroups, these concepts are quite different.