Genus of numerical semigroups generated by three elements. (Q1758530)

A numerical semigroup \(H\) is a submonoid of \(\mathbb N\) (the set of nonnegative integers) with finite complement in \(\mathbb N\). The elements in \(\mathbb N\setminus H\) are the gaps of \(H\), and its cardinality, denoted by \(g(H)\), is the genus of \(H\). The largest integer not belonging to \(H\) is its Frobenius number, \(F(H)\). It is easy to prove that \(2g(H)\geq F(H)+1\). When the equality holds we say that \(H\) is symmetric, and when \(2g(H)=F(H)+2\), we say that \(H\) is pseudo-symmetric. Every numerical semigroup \(H\) admits a unique minimal system of generators. The cardinality of \(A\) is the embedding dimension of \(H\). In this manuscript the authors focus on non-symmetric embedding dimension three numerical semigroups. Assume that \(H\) is such a semigroup, and \(\{a,b,c\}\) is its minimal generating system, with \(a<b<c\). Let \(k\) be a field and \(t\) an unknown. The semigroup ring \(k\) associated to \(H\) is \(k[H]=k[t^h\mid h\in H]=K[t^a,t^b,t^c]\). Let \(X\), \(Y\) and \(Z\) be three variables. The semigroup morphism \(\varphi\colon k[X,Y,Z]\to k[H]\) induced by \(X\mapsto t^a\), \(Y\mapsto t^b\), \(Z\mapsto t^c\), has kernel \(\mathfrak p\) generated by the maximal minors of the matrix \(\left(\begin{smallmatrix} X^\alpha &Y^\beta &Z^\gamma\\ Y^{\beta'}&Z^{\gamma'}&X^{\alpha'}\end{smallmatrix}\right)\), for some positive integers \(\alpha\), \(\beta\), \(\gamma\), \(\alpha'\), \(\beta'\) and \(\gamma'\) [see \textit{J. Herzog}, Manuscr. Math. 3, 175-193 (1970; Zbl 0211.33801)]. The main result of this paper states that \(2g(H)-(F(H)+1)\) equals \(\alpha\beta\gamma\) if \(\beta'b>\alpha a\), and \(\alpha'\beta'\gamma'\) otherwise. As a direct consequence the authors obtain a characterization of the pseudo-symmetry of \(H\): \(H\) is pseudo-symmetric if and only if either \(\alpha=\beta=\gamma=1\) or \(\alpha'=\beta'=\gamma'=1\). This characterization is an alternative to the one given by \textit{J. C. Rosales} and \textit{P. A. García-Sánchez}, [in J. Algebra 291, No. 1, 46-54 (2005; Zbl 1088.20034)]. The authors use this characterization to present a procedure to compute all pseudo-symmetric embedding dimension three numerical semigroups with given Frobenius number. Every even positive integer can be realized as the Frobenius number of a pseudo-symmetric numerical semigroup of embedding dimension at most four [\textit{J. C. Rosales} and \textit{P. A. García-Sánchez}, Ark. Mat. 42, No. 2, 301-306 (2004; Zbl 1059.20059)]. The set of even positive integers that can be realized as the Frobenius number of a pseudo-symmetric embedding dimension three numerical semigroup is not fully determined. The authors shed some light on this problem in Section 4. In the last section the authors characterize simple embedding dimension three numerical semigroups.