Homomorphisms of unary algebras with a given quotient (Q804614)

A universal category of (unary) algebras is a class of (unary) algebras containing each full category of algebras as a full subcategory. The paper is concerned with these categories and proves the following characterization: Given a nontrivial freely indecomposable unary algebra \b{A} with at least two fundamental operations, then the following five conditions are equivalent: 1. \b{A} has no homomorphism into a free algebra. 2. The class H(\b{A}) of all algebras having a homomorphism into \b{A} is universal. 3. The class Q(\b{A}) of all algebras having a quotient isomorphic to \b{A} is universal. 4. The class H(\b{A}) of all algebras having a homomorphism into \b{A} contains a rigid algebra (i.e. an algebra with only the identity endomorphism). 5. The class Q(\b{A}) of all algebras having a quotient isomorphic to \b{A} contains a rigid algebra.