Compactness of Systems of Equations in Semigroups (Q4354689)

A semigroup equation over a finite set \(X_n=\{x_1,\ldots,x_n\}\) of variables is a pair \((u,v)\) of words from \(X_n^+\times X_n^+\). A solution of an equation \((u,v)\) in a semigroup \(S\) is a homomorphism \(\alpha\colon X_n^+\to S\) such that \(\alpha(u)=\alpha(v)\). Two systems \(L\), \(L'\) of equations over \(X_n\) are equivalent with respect to a given semigroup \(S\) if \(L\) and \(L'\) have the same set of solutions in \(S\). A semigroup \(S\) is said to satisfy the compactness property (CP for short) if, for all \(n\geq 1\), every equation system \(L\subseteq X_n^+\times X_n^+\) is equivalent with respect to \(S\) to a finite subsystem \(T\subseteq L\). CP for monoids is defined similarly. The authors study various closure properties of the class of semigroups satisfying CP. They observe, for example, that this class is not closed under homomorphic images or infinite direct products. Further, they prove that all monoids in a variety \(\mathcal V\) satisfy CP if and only if every finitely generated monoid in \(\mathcal V\) satisfies the maximum condition for congruences (Theorem 3.2). This generalizes a similar result for group varieties proved by \textit{M. H. Albert} and \textit{J. Lawrence} [Proc. Edinb. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 29, 69-73 (1986; Zbl 0584.20027)]. Finally, the authors show that if a finitely generated semigroup \(S\) satisfies CP then each chain of idempotents in \(S\) is finite (Theorem 4.2) and \(S\) is Hopfian (Theorem 4.8).