No label defined (Q4350876)

In this work, Bernstein algebras satisfying polynomial identities in three, four or five variables are studied. A commutative algebra \(A\) over a field \(F\) of characteristic not two is a Bernstein algebra if it is endowed with a nonzero homomorphism \(\omega :A\to F\) such that \((x^2)^2=\omega (x^2)x^2\) for any \(x\in A\). It is known that a Bernstein algebra \(A\) contains idempotents and if \(e\in A\) is an idempotent then \(A\) has a Peirce decomposition \(A=Fe\oplus N=Fe\oplus U\oplus Z\), where \(N=\{ x\in A:\omega (x)=0\}\), \(U=\{ x\in N: 2ex=x\}\) and \(Z=\{ x\in N: ex=x\}\). A Bernstein algebra is called exceptional (resp. normal) if \(U^2=0\) (resp. \(UZ=Z^2=0\)). The class of all Bernstein algebras is not a variety, but I. Correa, I. R. Hentzel and L. A. Peresi have given the smallest set of identities that defines a variety containing all the Bernstein algebras. The same authors give similar results for exceptional and normal Bernstein algebras. The authors of this paper work in a different way. They obtain conditions equivalent to the satisfaction of some identity. An algebra \(A\) has level \(k\) if \(k\) is the smallest integer such that there exists a polynomial \(S(x_1,\dots ,x_k)\) in the noncommutative and nonassociative variables \(x_1,x_2,\dots ,x_k\) with coefficients in \(F\) satisfying \(S(a_1,\dots ,a_k)=0\) for any \(a_1,\dots ,a_k\in A\). Section two of this paper is devoted to finding characterizations for Bernstein algebras of level 3 and 4. So, the Bernstein algebras of level 3 are the associative Bernstein algebras and a Bernstein algebra \(A=Fe\oplus U\oplus Z\) is associative iff \(U=0\). Proposition 1 shows that level 4 is equivalent to the condition \(U^2=UZ=Z^2=0\), that is \(N^2=0\). Level 5 is more complicated and requires computational techniques in the reduction of some large matrices to row echelon form, which are included in the appendix. Section five deals with such problem. So, in the non exceptional case, level 5 is equivalent to normality. The last proposition shows that if \(A=Fe\oplus U\oplus Z\) is an exceptional Bernstein algebra, then \(A\) has level 5 iff \(z_1(uz_2)=(z_1u)z_2\) for all \(u\in U\), \(z_1,z_2\in Z\). In a final remark, the authors announce further results of higher levels.