Counting relations on Ockham algebras. (Q494621)

The paper is a contribution to the topological duality theory for Ockham algebras. An \textit{Ockham algebra} \(\mathbf A=(A;\vee,\wedge,f,0,1)\) is a bounded distributive lattice with unary operation \(f\) satisfying the identities \(f(1)=0\), \(f(0)=1\), \(f(x\vee y)=f(x)\wedge f(y)\) and \(f(x\wedge y)=f(x)\vee f(y)\). Priestley's duality for bounded distributive lattices has a natural restriction to the variety of Ockham algebras. The dual space \(X(\mathbf A)\) of an Ockham algebra \(\mathbf A\) is a Priestley space endowed with a continuous order-reversing mapping \(g\), i.e. \((X(\mathbf A),g,\tau)\), where \(\tau\) is the appropriate topology. Now, we shall concentrate upon a special question. Consider a nontrivial finite Ockham algebra \(\mathbf A\) and the quasivariety \({A}=\mathsf{ISP}(\mathbf{A})\) generated by \(\mathbf A\). We say that \(\mathbf A\) \textit{admits a duality} if there is some finite set \(D(A)\) with an ``algebraic structure'' which yields a duality on \({A}\). More precisely, we can set \(D(A)=(A;G,H,R,\tau)\), with a set \(G\) of (total) operations on \(\mathbf A\), \(H\) a set of partial operations on \(\mathbf A\) and with a set \(R\) of relations on \(\mathbf A\), all compatible with the structure on \(\mathbf A\). Moreover, \(\tau\) means the discrete topology on \(A\). Main results: (1) Let \(\mathbf A\) be a nontrivial finite Ockham algebra, which admits duality of only finitely many compatible relations. Then \(|X(\mathbf A)|=m\) is odd. (2) \(\mathbf A\) admits duality of only finitely many compatible relations iff \(\mathbf A\) is a quasi-primal Ockham algebra or \(\mathbf A\) is a ``generalized'' Stone algebra. (3) There exist eight finite Ockham algebras admitting infinitely many compatible relations.