Numerical semigroups whose fractions are of maximal embedding dimension. (Q637604)

A numerical semigroup is an additive submonoid of the natural numbers with finite complement. It is a standard result that every numerical semigroup has a unique minimal generating set. The cardinality of this generating set is called the embedding dimension. In the case when the embedding dimension of a semigroup \(S\) is equal to its smallest nonzero element, we say that \(S\) has maximal embedding dimension, or that \(S\) is an MED semigroup. The quotient of \(S\) by \(k\), denoted \(\frac{S}{k}\), is defined by \(\{n\in\mathbb N\mid nk\in S\}\). It is not difficult to see that this is also a numerical semigroup. Several recent papers have studied quotients of numerical semigroups of specific types. In this article the authors show that the classes of saturated and Arf semigroups, two properties which imply maximal embedding dimension and are often discussed in the numerical semigroup literature, are closed under taking quotients. They also show that this is not the case for the class of MED semigroups, that there exist MED semigroups which have quotients that are not MED. They introduce and study the class of semigroups that are fractionally of maximal embedding dimension, or FMED. This class fits nicely in between known classes of semigroups and seems worthy of further investigation.