The dual geometry of Boolean semirings (Q535089)

The authors follow very closely the ideas of \textit{D. M. Clark} and \textit{B. A. Davey} [Natural dualities for the working algebraist. Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics. 57. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1998; Zbl 0910.08001)] for constructing natural dualities. The basic idea is to impose on the carrier set \(S\) of the semiring \(\mathbb{S}\) the discrete topology together with operations, partial operations, and relations to form a dual topological structure \(\underline{\mathbf S}\) as the generator of the dual category \(\mathcal X\). More specifically, \(\mathcal X=IS_{c}P^{+}(\underline{\mathbf S})\) is the category of isomorphic copies of topologically closed substructures of non-empty products of copies of \(\underline{\mathbf S}\). Using this construction, the authors obtain a dual adjunction \(\langle D, E, e, \epsilon \rangle\) between the categories \(\mathcal {A}\) and \({\mathcal X}\) with the many desirable properties of [loc. cit.]. If the dual adjunction \(\langle D, E, e, \epsilon \rangle\) satisfies the property that for any \(A\in \mathcal{A}\), \(A\) is isomorphic to \(ED(A)={\mathcal X}(\mathcal {A}(A,\mathbb{S}),\underline{\mathbf S})\), then it is called a dual representation of \(\mathcal{A}\) in \({\mathcal X}\). In this case we say that \(S\) yields a (natural) duality on \(A\). If it is also true that for any \(X\in {\mathcal X}\), \(X\) is isomorphic to \(DE(X)=\mathcal{A}((X,\underline{\mathbf S}),\mathbb{S})\), we say that \(\underline{\mathbf S}\) yields a full duality on \(\mathcal{A}\). Thus \(\underline{\mathbf S}\) yields a full duality on \(\mathcal{A}\) if it yields a duality on \(\mathcal{A}\) which is a dual equivalence. Finally, if \(\underline{\mathbf S}\) yields a full duality on \(\mathcal{A}\) and is injective in \({\mathcal X}\), \(\underline{\mathbf S}\) is said to yield a strong duality on \(\mathcal{A}\). The authors construct three dualities, each one coming from a different topological structure. In all three of them the algebra side of the duality is \(\mathcal {A}=ISP(\mathbb{S})\). The first topological structure, \(\underline{\mathbf S}\), yields an optimal (natural) duality \({\mathcal X}=IS_{c}P^{+}(\underline{\mathbf S})\leftrightarrows \mathcal{A}\). The second one, \(\underline{\mathbf S}_{s}\), yields a strong duality \({\mathcal X}_{s}=IS_{c}P^{+}(\underline{\mathbf S}_{s}) \leftrightarrows \mathcal{A}\). The third one, \(\underline{\mathbf S}_{os}\), yields an optimal strong duality, \({\mathcal X}_{os}=IS_{c}P^{+}(\underline{\mathbf S}_{os})\leftrightarrows \mathcal{A}\). In the first duality, labeling the appropriate contravariant functors \(D\) and \(E\), \(A\) is isomorphic to \(ED(A)={\mathcal X}(\mathcal{A}(A,\mathbb{S}),\underline{\mathbf S})\). Similar remarks hold for the other two dualities. Moreover, it is shown that \({\mathcal X}_{os}(\underline{\mathbf S}_{os}^{n}, \underline{\mathbf S})={\mathcal X}(\underline{\mathbf S}^{n}, \underline{\mathbf S})\). A major part of this paper is devoted to characterizing the join-irreducible elements of \( {\mathcal X}(\underline{\mathbf S}^{n}, \underline{\mathbf S})\), the authors giving an inductive characterization of them in Theorem 2.11. This set, denoted by \({\mathcal X}(\underline{\mathbf S}^{n}, \underline{\mathbf S})_{J}\), has the structure of a meet semilattice (called ``hairy cube'') that completely determines it as a partially Stone space. They also obtain a polynomial representation for the elements of the hairy cube. The results in this paper and in [\textit{D. J. Clouse}, A dual representation of Boolean semirings in a category of structured topological spaces. Ph.D. dissertation, Binghamton University (2002)] greatly expand our understanding of the dual equivalence between the variety of Boolean semirings and the category of partially Stone spaces established in [\textit{F. Guzmán}, ``The variety of Boolean semirings'', J. Pure Appl. Algebra 78, No.~3, 253--270 (1992; Zbl 0770.16020)]. They also complete a large initial step for investigating the strong duality established between \(\mathcal{A}\) and \({\mathcal X}_{os}\).