On additive bases in infinite abelian semigroups (Q6166673)

Working in an abelian semigroup \(T\), an \textit{additive basis} is a set \(A\) for which there exists \(h\) such that all but finitely many elements of \(T\) are a sum of exactly \(h\) elements of \(A\) (not necessarily distinct). Given such a basis, an \textit{essential subset} is a finite subset -- minimal with respect to inclusion -- whose removal destroys the basis property. The authors show that there are only finitely many essential subsets, generalising work of Deschamps-Farhi who studied \(T = \mathbb Z_{\ge 0}\). They then estimate various related quantities.