On free products in varieties of associative algebras (Q1974360)

The author studies the Hilbert series of relatively free algebras in varieties of associative algebras over a field of characteristic 0. \textit{A.~Ya.~Belov} proved that in any such variety \(\mathcal V\) the Hilbert series of the \(\mathcal V\)-free object of countable rank is rational [see Usp. Mat. Nauk 52, No. 2, 153-154 (1997; Zbl 0919.16018)]. Let \(Vect\), \(Com\) and \(Ass\) be, respectively, the variety of all algebras with zero multiplication, the variety of all commutative algebras and the variety of all associative ones. It is known that for these three varieties a stronger assertion than the one cited above holds. Namely, for these three varieties there are well known formulas that rationaly express the Hilbert series of a free product of algebras via the Hilbert series of the factors. The main result of the article is that there is no formula of such a kind in any variety excluding the three ones mentioned. Another result is that there is a similar formula for infinitely many varieties in the partial case when we restrict ourselves to the class of graded PI-algebras generated by their components of degree one.