Orthoproducts and \(f\)-representations of archimedean \(\ell\)-groups. (Q2510718)

Let \(G\) be an archimedean \(l\)-group. By an \(f\)-representation of \(G\) we mean an orthomorphism-valued group homomorphism \(S\) on \(G\) for which \((Sf)g=(Sg)f\) for all \(f,g\in G\). Let \(\text{Rep}(G)\) denote the set of all \(f\)-representations of \(G\). The authors prove that, under the pointwise addition and ordering, \(\text{Rep}(G)\) is an archimedean \(l\)-group such that the equalities \((S\vee T)g=Sg\vee Tg\) and \((S\wedge T)g=Sg\wedge Tg\) hold for all \(S,T\in\text{Rep}(G)\) and \(g\in G^+\). An orthoproduct on \(G\) is a bilinear map from \(G\times G\) into \(G\), (where \(G\) is considered as a \(\mathbb Z\)-module) which is an orthomorphism in each variable separately. The authors prove that the set \(\text{Opro}(G)\) is an archimedean \(l\)-group with \(\text{Mult}(G)\) as positive cone. Moreover, \(\text{Opro}(G)\) and \(\text{Rep}(G)\) turn out to be isomorphic as \(l\)-groups. Their study leads to a representation theorem of \(f\)-multiplications on an archimedean \(l\)-group which is in addition an \(l\)-subgroup of an archimedean \(f\)-ring \(R\) with unit element. This representation extends an earlier theorem, again by \textit{P. Conrad} [Can. J. Math. 26, 1157-1168 (1974; Zbl 0293.06019)]. This theorem asserts that if \(*\) is another \(f\)-multiplication in \(R\), then there is \(w\in R ^+\) such that \(f*g=wfg\) for all \(f,g\in G\). The results are illustrated with examples of \(f\)-multiplications in \(l\)-groups of real-valued piecewise linear functions.