On the rank of the Rees-Sushkevich varieties. (Q2849066)

A Rees-Sushkevich variety is a semigroup variety that is contained in some periodic variety generated by completely 0-simple semigroups. If such a variety is itself generated by completely 0-simple semigroups, it is termed exact. These varieties were introduced by the author in the multi-author paper [\textit{T. E. Hall} et al., J. Pure Appl. Algebra 119, No. 1, 75-96 (1997; Zbl 0880.20040)] and there is now a considerable literature on the topic.NEWLINENEWLINE This remarkable paper essentially reduces consideration of many -- if not most -- questions regarding Rees-Sushkevich varieties to the case of exact varieties, and thence to complete answers. To formulate the connection and the notion of rank, a sequence of twelve numbers, six semigroups must first be defined: NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\begin{aligned} &B_0=\{e,f,z,0\mid e^2=e,\;f^2=f,\;ez=zf=z\};\\ &A_0=\{e,f,z,0\mid e^2=e,\;f^2=f,\;ef=ez=zf=z\};\\ &B_\ell=\langle e,f,g,a,0\mid g^2=g,\;e^2=e,\;f^2=f,\;ef=e,\;fe=f,\;ga=a,\\ &a^2=ag=af=ea=fa=ge=eg=fg=gf=0\rangle\end{aligned}NEWLINE\]NEWLINE and \(B_r\) is its dual; NEWLINE\[NEWLINEA_\ell^*=\langle e,f,g,0\mid g^2=g,\;e^2=e,\;f^2=f,\;ef=e,\;fe=f,\;eg=fg=gf=0\rangleNEWLINE\]NEWLINE and \(A_r^*\) is its dual.NEWLINENEWLINE If \(\mathbf V\) is a Rees-Sushkevich variety, then the first six numbers in the rank are either 1 or 0, depending on whether or not \(\mathbf V\) contains each of the respective semigroups. Next six series of semigroups must be defined. First, \(N_k\) and \(CN_k\) are the free semigroups of rank \(k\) in the varieties defined respectively by \(x^2=0,\;xyx=0\) and \(x^2=0,\;xyx=0,\;xy=yx\). Then: NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\begin{multlined} SL_k=\langle e,f,z_1,z_2,\ldots,z_k,0\mid e^2=0,\;f^2=f,\;ef=e,\;fe=f,\;z_iz_j=0\;(j-i\neq 1),\\ ez_i=fz_i=0,\;(1\leq i\leq k),\;z_jz_{j+1}e=z_je=z_jf\;(j\neq k),\;z_kf=0\rangle\end{multlined}NEWLINE\]NEWLINE and \(SL_k^*\) is its subsemigroup generated by \(e,f,z_1,z_2,\ldots,z_k\), whereas \(SR_k\) and \(SR_k^*\) are the duals. Now the remaining six numbers in the rank are the largest values \(k\) such that corresponding member of each series belongs to \(\mathbf V\) (or 0 or \(\infty\) in the extreme cases).NEWLINENEWLINE Now the main theorem of the paper (Theorem 5) states that if two Rees-Sushkevich varieties contain the same completely 0-simple members and have the same rank, then they have bases of identities that differ only by collections of permutation identities. An alternative expression is that every such variety is generated by its completely 0-simple semigroups, the members that it contains from the above twelve classes, and the members that it contains from a further more limited set of semigroups that we shall not define here.NEWLINENEWLINE A multitude of corollaries are deduced. Among them is a criterion for exactness, one that differs slightly from that of \textit{N. R. Reilly} [J. Aust. Math. Soc. 84, No. 3, 375-403 (2008; Zbl 1161.20051)]. Another is that a Rees-Sushkevich variety is finitely based if and only if its associated exact variety has this property, from which it follows, for example, that every combinatorial Rees-Sushkevich variety is finitely based [\textit{E. W. H. Lee}, Int. J. Algebra Comput. 18, No. 5, 957-978 (2008; Zbl 1160.20057)]. Many other questions related to finiteness are also answered, some totally new and some wide generalizations of previously known results.