Factorization properties of Leamer monoids. (Q485407)

This work is motivated by a conjecture of \textit{C. Huneke} and \textit{R. Wiegand} [Math. Ann. 299, No. 3, 449-476 (1994; Zbl 0803.13008)]. Conjecture 1.1 (Huneke-Wiegand). Let \(R\) be a one-dimensional Gorenstein domain, and let \(M\neq 0\) be a finitely generated \(R\)-module that is not projective. Then the torsion submodule of \(M\otimes_R\Hom_R(M,R)\) is non-trivial. In particular, the authors are interested in \textit{P. A. García-Sánchez} and \textit{M. J. Leamer}'s [J. Algebra 391, 114-124 (2013; Zbl 1301.20065)] approach to working on the conjecture in special cases related to numerical monoid algebras. Proposition 1.2 (García-Sánchez-Leamer). Let \(\Gamma\) be a numerical monoid and \(\mathbb K\) be a field. The monoid algebra \(\mathbb K[\Gamma]\) satisfies the Huneke-Wiegand conjecture for monomial ideals generated by two elements if and only if for each \(s\in\mathbb N\setminus\Gamma\), there exists an irreducible arithmetic sequence of the form \(\{x,x+s,x+2s\}\) in \(\Gamma\). Following García-Sánchez and Leamer, the authors consider a submonoid of \(\mathbb N^2\) associated with a numerical monoid, which they call a Leamer monoid. Definition 2.1. Given a numerical monoid \(\Gamma\) and \(s\in\mathbb N\setminus\Gamma\), we define \[ S^s_\Gamma=\{(0,0\}\cup\{(x,n):\{x,x+s,x+2s,\ldots,x+ns\}\subset\Gamma\}\subset\mathbb N^2. \] The main purpose of the paper is to provide a foundational theory of Leamer monoids, including an analysis of their atomic structure and certain factorization invariants. The first important result is that Leamer monoids are atomic, i.e., any element can be written as a finite sum of irreducible elements. Thus, Leamer monoids are atomic, cancellative, commutative monoids and we may consider several concepts related to factorization in such monoids. The authors show that every Leamer monoid has infinite elasticity, and the \(k\)-th refined elasticity is also infinite whenever \(k\geq 2\). Moreover, a Leamer monoid is never fully elastic. In addition, the Delta set of a Leamer monoid is always finite and the authors provide a method for computing its maximal element. When the numerical monoid \(\Gamma=\langle m,m+s,\ldots,m+ks\}\) is generated by an arithmetic sequence of step size \(s\), the authors give a complete characterization of \(S_\Gamma^s\). Using this characterization, a closed form for the Delta set is given. Furthermore, the catenary degree is shown to be \(\lfloor\frac{m-2}{k}\rfloor+3\). The authors conclude with a collection of open problems whose solutions will further the theory of Leamer monoinds.