Stability of the Blok theorem (Q998759)

In [On the degree of incompleteness of modal logic and the covering relation in the lattice of modal logics. Technical Report 78-07, University of Amsterdam (1978)], \textit{W. Blok} proved his celebrated result on degrees of Kripke incompleteness of normal modal logics. This theorem, known as the \textit{Blok dichotomy} or the \textit{Blok alternative}, states that for each normal modal logic \(L\) either there is no other normal modal logic with the same class of Kripke frames (\(L\) has the degree of incompleteness \(1\)) or there are uncountably many normal modal logics that share with \(L\) the same class of Kripke frames (\(L\) has the degree of incompleteness \(2^{\aleph_0}\)). In the algebraic language, Blok's dichotomy can be formulated as follows: for a variety \(V\) of Boolean algebras with a single normal unary operator either there is no other variety that has the same class of \textit{perfect algebras} -- duals of Kripke frames -- or there are uncountably many other varieties with the same class of perfect algebras. In [Modal logic. Oxford Logic Guides. 35. Oxford: Clarendon Press (1997; Zbl 0871.03007)], \textit{A. Chagrov} and \textit{M. Zakharyaschev} gave an alternative proof of this result. In this paper, the author shows, using the technique of Chagrov and Zakharyaschev [loc.~cit.], that the Blok dichotomy also holds when perfect algebras are replaced by \(\omega\)-complete algebras (algebras where every countable family has a supremum), atomic algebras with completely additive operators or algebras admitting residuals. He also generalizes the Blok dichotomy to lattices of varieties of Boolean algebras with finitely many unary operators. The paper also answers a question posed by \textit{W. Dzobiak} [``A note on incompleteness of modal logics with respect to neighbourhood semantics'', Bull. Sect. Logic, Pol. Acad. Sci. 7, 185--190 (1978; Zbl 0415.03020)] by constructing a complete and atomic algebra that generates a variety which is not determined by any class of subdirectly irreducible \(\omega\)-complete algebras.