On the networks of large embeddings (Q6579991)

The authors define a special network that exhibits the large embeddings in the class of algebras \(K\). An algebra \(A\) is largely embeddable into another algebra \(B\) in \(K\) if there is a member of \(K\) that serves as an intermediate algebra in the following sense: it is isomorphic to \(A\), and it is a large subalgebra of \(B\). With this network, they introduce a notion of distance that conceivably counts the minimum number of dissimilarities. This distance counts the minimal number of steps needed from the symmetric closure of the large embedding relation to reach an algebra from another algebra. The notion of distance provides a framework that gives a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the connections between the algebraic structures in the class \(K\). They display a number of inspirative examples from different areas of algebra, e.g. group theory and monounary algebras.