Varieties with equationally definable factor congruences (Q2443676)

The concept of \textit{\(\lambda\)-central elements} of an algebra, introduced by \textit{D. Vaggione} [Acta Sci. Math. 62, No. 3--4, 359--368 (1996; Zbl 0880.08007)], generalize both central idempotent elements in rings with identity and neutral complemented elements in a bounded lattice. Essentially, they correspond to elements \((0,1)\) in direct products \(A\times B\). The authors study varieties \(\mathcal V\) having equationally definable factor congruences (EDFC); this property states that there exists a conjunction of equations which defines the kernel of the projection \(\pi_1:A\times B\to A\) using the associated central element as a parameter. They prove that this condition is equivalent to definability by an open formula and they show that the kernel of the other projection may be defined by a universal first-order formula, regardless of the cardinality of the language of \(\mathcal V\). Bounded semilattices and semidegenerate congruence-modular varieties have EDFC, and the authors provide refined versions of their results in those cases, and also in the congruence-permutable case. For the latter, they prove that the class of directly indecomposables is axiomatizable by \(\forall\exists\) formulas. Finally, they prove that several of the first-order definitions they obtain are optimal in terms of quantifier alternation.