Rees quotients of numerical semigroups. (Q372060)

A numerical semigroup \(S\) is a subsemigroup of the set of positive integers with finite complement in \(\mathbb N\). Usually 0 is considered as the identity element of any numerical semigroup, and in the literature the term numerical monoid is also used to denote cofinite submonoids of \(\mathbb N\). So the authors are using here probably a more adequate notation. Let \(I\) be an ideal of a numerical semigroup \(S\). The Rees quotient \(S/I\) is the set obtained by identifying all the elements of \(I\) to a distinguished element, and it is a finite semigroup (this new element acts as a zero in a multiplicative semigroup, that is, it swallows every element operated with it). The authors prove that every Rees quotient of a numerical semigroup is nilpotent. Thus the class \(RQNS\) of Rees quotients of numerical semigroups is contained in the class \(N\cap Com\), the class of nilpotent commutative semigroups. For a numerical semigroup \(S\) and a positive integer \(k\), \(I_k(S)\) denotes the set of all elements in \(S\) that are greater than or equal to \(k\). The authors denote the class of all Rees quotients of numerical semigroups \(S\) by ideals of the form \(I_k(S)\) by \(CQNS\), and \(C\mathbb N\) the class of the Rees quotients of the set of positive integers by ideals of the form \([k,\infty)\). They show that \(C\mathbb N\subset CQNS\subset RQNS\subset N\cap Com\), and that these inclusions are all strict. It is also proved that the pseudo-variety \(N\cap Com\) is generated by \(C\mathbb N\). A section is devoted to presentations, where it is shown how to compute presentations with zero of elements in \(RQNS\) over their minimal generating systems. The authors also show how to characterize isomorphisms between elements in \(RQNS\) by using presentations. The last section formulates some open problems. One of them states that ``different symmetric numerical semigroups correspond to non-isomorphic quotient numerical semigroups''. The authors show some computational evidence of this fact. Another natural question is whether or not \(RQNS\) is decidable, that is, given a finite commutative semigroup, decide if it belongs or not to this class. The paper contains several figures, examples and tables that make the reading comfortable.