Relative ranks of Lipschitz mappings on countable discrete metric spaces (Q624410)

For a countable discrete metric space \(X\), we denote by \(r_X\) the relative rank of the semigroup \({\mathcal C}_X\) of all (continuous) functions \(X \to X\) modulo the subsemigroup \({\mathcal L}_X\) of Lipschitz functions, i.e. the least cardinal of a subset in \({\mathcal C}_X\) which together with \({\mathcal L}_X\) generates \({\mathcal C}_X\). It is well known that this depends on the metric of \(X\), and \textit{W. Sierpiński} [Fundam. Math. 24, 209--212 (1935; Zbl 0011.10607)] has shown that \(r_X\) is either uncountable or at most 2. This started a long history of investigations pertaining to more general metric spaces or more general semigroups. The authors stick to the original range of semigroups and prove a number of results about precise values of \(r_X\). For instance, \(r_X = 1\) if \(X\) contains a Cauchy sequence. For \(f,g \in \mathbb N^\mathbb N\), we set \(f \leq g\) if and only if \(f(n) \leq g(n)\) for all \(n\). Define the (uncountable) cardinal \(\mathfrak d\leq 2^{\aleph_0}\) to be the least cardinal of a cofinal subset of \(\mathbb N^\mathbb N\) with respect to this partial order. One of the main results is that \(r_X\geq \mathfrak d\) if every open ball in \(X\) is finite. A more complicated condition ensures that \(r_X \leq \mathfrak d\): if \(\mathcal U\) is a partition of \(X\), one defines a kind of quotient metric on \(\mathcal U\). A sufficient condition for \(r_X \leq \mathfrak d\) is that a partition exists for which this quotient has finite open balls and nonzero distances are bounded away from zero. These results combine to give \(r_X = \mathfrak d\) under several natural conditions. E.g., this equation holds for all infinite subsets of \(\mathbb N^k\), \(k\geq 1\). The same also holds for a large class of countable sets \(X \subseteq \mathbb R\), in fact, for almost all such sets (in the sense of Baire category). In general for countable \(X \subseteq \mathbb R\) it is shown that \(r_X\) is either equal to 1 or at least \(\mathfrak d\).