Oids, finite sums and the structure of the Stone-Čech compactification of a discrete semigroup (Q2640710)

Let N denote the positive integers and \(x=(x_ n)_{n\in N}\) denote a sequence of 0's and 1's for which \(\sup p(x)=\{n\in N:\) \(x_ n=1\}\) is finite and nonempty. Define \(\sup p(x)<\sup p(y)\) to mean \(r<s\) for all r in supp(x) and s in supp(y). The standard noncommutative oid is the set of all such sequences together with a partial binary operation \(+\) defined only when \(\sup p(x)<\sup p(y)\), by \(x+y=(x_ n+y_ n)_{n\in N}\). The standard commutative oid is defined the same way except \(x+y\) is defined whenever \(\sup p(x)\cap \sup p(y)=\emptyset.\) The author proves that a semigroup \((S,+)\) contains an isomorphic image of a standard oid if and only if S contains a countable sequence \((x_ n)_{n\in F}\) having the property that for any finite subsets G, H of F, \(\sum_{n\in G}x_ n=\sum_{n\in H}x_ n\) implies \(G=H\). Sequences with this property have been employed by various authors studying compactifications of semigroups. It is proved that an oid exists in \((S,+)\) if S is cancellative or if S contains an element of infinite order; every countably infinite free semigroup is an oid, and the set Z of integers with usual addition is a commutative oid. These results yield generalizations of theorems of Hindman, Pym and Lisan about the structure of the Stone-Čech compactification of a discrete semigroup S.