Preserving self-similarity in free products of semigroups (Q6905869)

An \textit{automaton semigroup} is the subsemigroup of the transformation semigroup on words on a finite alphabet, generated by the actions of a finite automaton (with finite state space, i.e., a finite state letter-to-letter transducer). Equivalently, an automaton semigroup (group) can be defined as the semigroup of endomorphisms (automorphisms) of infinite regular rooted trees generated by the actions of finite automata (by identifying the nodes of the tree with words over the finite alphabet). In the case the automaton (i.e. state space) is infinite, one speaks of a \textit{self-similar semigroup}.\N\NThe class of automaton semigroups is quite large and contains in particular all finite (semi)groups, almost all free (semi)groups and the Grigorchuk group. A remarkable introduction to the topic of automaton semigroups is [\textit{A. J. Cain}, Theor. Comput. Sci. 410, No. 47--49, 5022--5038 (2009; Zbl 1194.68133)]. In this paper, the author raises the following open problem (Open Problem 5.8.1): Is the class of automaton semigroups closed under free products?\N\NThe present article is another step toward resolving this problem. Specifically, it proves that free products of automaton (self-similar) semigroups are themselves automaton (self-similar) semigroups under a very mild condition (Theorem 3.1 ad Corollary 3.3). Namely, if \(S,T\) are two automaton (self-similar) semigroups and if there is an homomorphism from \(S\) to \(T\), then their free product \(S\star T\) is an automaton (self-similar) semigroup. Then, the authors produce large classes of semigroups for which the hypothesis of Theorem 3.1 holds.