Projective algebras (Q5906467)

This paper is concerned with the problem of characterizing projective algebras in an arbitrary variety \(V\). The author proves (Theorem 1.3) that an algebra \(A\in V\) is projective iff there exists a chain \(\{A_ \alpha\mid \alpha <\tau\}\) of subalgebras of \(A\) (with an arbitrary ordinal number \(\tau\)) satisfying the following conditions: (P1) \(A_ 0\) is the free algebra with empty generator set; (P2) \(A= \bigcup_{\alpha< \tau} A_ \alpha\); (P3) \(A\) is a countable projective extension of \(A\); (P4) \(A_ \lambda= \bigcup_{\alpha <\lambda} A_ \alpha\) for every limit ordinal \(\lambda< \tau\). In the second part of this paper, the author presents a new characterization of projective distributive lattices. The work was inspired by a situation that appears in Boolean algebras [see \textit{S. Koppelberg}, ``Projective Boolean algebras'', Handbook of Boolean algebras, Vol. 3, 741-773 (1989; Zbl 0671.06001)], where we have a stronger version of 1.3 in which (P3) is replaced by the condition (P3\('\)): \(A_{\alpha+1}\) is a simple projective extension of \(A_ \alpha\). From the text: ``Several questions now arise and we leave them open: (1) For which varieties \(V\) can the condition (P3) in 1.3 be replaced by (P3\('\))? (2) Is there any variety \(V\) for which (P3) cannot be replaced by (P3\('\)), but can be replaced by (P3\(''\)): \(A_{\alpha+1}\) is a finite projective extension of \(A_ \alpha\)?''.