Numerical Semigroups Problem List
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NUMERICAL SEMIGROUPS PROBLEM LIST M. DELGADO, P. A. GARC´IA-SANCHEZ,´ AND J. C. ROSALES 1. Notable elements and first problems linear combination, with nonnegative integer co- efficients, of a fixed set of integers with greatest A numerical semigroup is a subset of N (here common divisor equal to 1. He also raised the N denotes the set of nonnegative integers) that is question of determining how many positive inte- closed under addition, contains the zero element, gers do not admit such a representation. With and its complement in N is finite. our terminology, the first problem is equivalent If A is a nonempty subset of N, we denote by to that of finding a formula in terms of the gen- hAi the submonoid of N generated by A, that is, erators of a numerical semigroup S of the great- est integer not belonging to S (recall that its hAi = {λ1a1+···+λnan | n ∈ N,λi ∈ N, ai ∈ A}. complement in N is finite). This number is thus It is well known (see for instance [41, 45]) that known in the literature as the Frobenius num- hAi is a numerical semigroup if and only if ber of S, and we will denote it by F(S). The gcd(A) = 1. elements of H(S) = N \ S are called gaps of If S is a numerical semigroup and S = hAi for S. Therefore the second problem consists in some A ⊆ S, then we say that A is a system of determining the cardinality of H(S), sometimes generators of S, or that A generates S. More- known as genus of S ([25]) or degree of singular- over, A is a minimal system of generators of S if ity of S ([3]). no proper subset of A generates S. In [45] it is In [60] Sylvester solves the just quoted prob- shown that every numerical semigroup admits a lems of Frobenius for embedding dimension unique minimal system of generators, and it has two. For semigroups with embedding dimension finitely many elements. greater than or equal to three these problems re- Let S be a numerical semigroup and let {n1 < main open. The current state of the problem is n2 < ··· < ne} be its minimal system of gen- quite well collected in [30]. erators. The integers n1 and e are known as Let S be a numerical semigroup. Following the multiplicity and embedding dimension of S, the terminology introduced in [39] an integer x and we will refer to them by using m(S) and is said to be a pseudo-Frobenius number of S e(S), respectively. This notation might seem if x 6∈ S and x + S \ {0} ⊆ S. We will de- amazing, but it is not so if one takes into ac- note by PF(S) the set of pseudo-Frobenius num- arXiv:1304.6552v1 [math.AC] 24 Apr 2013 count that there exists a large list of manuscripts bers of S. The cardinality of PF(S) is called devoted to the study of analytically irreducible the type of S (see [3]) and we will denote it by one-dimensional local domains via their value t(S). It is proved in [18] that if e(S) = 2, then semigroups, which are numerical semigroups. t(S) = 1, and if e(S) = 3, then t(S) ∈ {1, 2}. The invariants we just introduced, together with It is also shown that if e(S) ≥ 4, then t(S) can others that will show up later in this work, have be arbitrarily large, t(S) ≤ m(S) − 1 and that an interpretation in that context, and this is why (t(S)+1)g(S) ≤ t(s)(F(S)+1). This is the start- they have been named in this way. Along this ing point of a new line of research that consists line, [3] is a good reference for the translation for in trying to determine the type of a numerical the terminology used in the Theory of Numerical semigroup, once other invariants like multiplic- Semigroups and Algebraic Geometry. ity, embedding dimension, genus or Frobenius Frobenius (1849-1917) during his lectures pro- number are fixed. posed the problem of giving a formula for the Wilf in [66] conjectures that if S is a numerical greatest integer that is not representable as a semigroup, then e(S)g(S) ≤ (e(S) − 1)(F(S)+ 1 2 1). Some families of numerical semigroups for two positive rational numbers α < β such that which it is known that the conjecture is true are S = S([α, β]). This is also equivalent to the ex- collected in [16]. Other such families can be seen istence of an interval I, with nonempty interior, in [23, 59]. The general case remains open. of the form S = S(I) (see [55]). Bras-Amor´os computes in [5] the number By using the notation introduced in [54], a se- a of numerical semigroups with genus g ∈ quence of fractions a1 < a2 < ··· < p is said to b1 b2 bp {0,..., 50}, and conjectures that the growth is be a B´ezout sequence if a1,...,ap, b1,...,bp are similar to that of Fibonacci’s sequence. How- positive integers and ai+1bi − aibi+1 = 1 for all ever it has not been proved yet that there are i ∈{1,...,p−1}. The importance of the B´ezout more semigroups of genus g than of genus g + 1. sequences in the study of proportionally modu- Several attempts already appear in the litera- lar semigroups highlights in the following result ture. Kaplan [23] uses an approach that involves proved in [54]. If a1 < a2 < ··· < ap is a B´ezout b b bp counting the semigroups by genus and multiplic- 1 2 a1 ap sequence, then S , = ha1,...,api. ity. He poses many related conjectures which h b1 bp i a A B´ezout sequence a1 < a2 < ··· < p is could be taken literally and be posed here as b1 b2 bp problems. We suggest them to the reader. A dif- proper if ai+hbi − aibi+h ≥ 2 for all h ≥ 2 ferent approach, dealing with the asymptoptical with i, i + h ∈{1,...,p}. Clearly, every B´ezout behavior of the sequence of the number of nu- sequence can be reduced (by removing some merical semigroups by genus, has been followed terms) to a proper B´ezout sequence with the by Zhao [69]. Some progress has been achieved same ends as the original one. It is showed in [9], by Zhai [68], but many questions remain open. that if a1 < a2 are two reduced fractions, then b1 b2 there exists an unique proper B´ezout sequence with ends a1 and a2 . Furthermore, in this work 2. Proportionally modular semigroups b1 b2 a procedure for obtaining this sequence is given. a Following the terminology introduced in [52], It is proved in [54] that if a1 < a2 < ··· < p b1 b2 bp a proportionally modular Diophantine inequal- is a proper B´ezout sequence, then there exists ity is an expression of the form ax mod b ≤ cx, h ∈ {1,...,p} such that a ≥ ··· ≥ ah ≤ with a, b and c positive integers. The integers a, 1 ···≤ ap (the sequence a1,...,ap is convex). The b and c are called the factor, the modulus and the following characterization is also proved there: proportion of the inequality, respectively. The a numerical semigroup is proportionally modu- set S(a, b, c) of solutions of the above inequality lar if and only if there exists a convex order- is a numerical semigroup. We say that a nu- ing if its minimal generators n ,...,ne such that merical semigroup is proportionally modular if 1 gcd{ni, ni } = 1 for all i ∈ {1,...,e − 1} and it is the set of solutions of some proportionally +1 nj−1 + nj+1 ≡ 0 (mod nj) for all j ∈{2,...,e − modular Diophantine inequality. 1}. Q+ Given a nonempty subset A of 0 , we de- A modular Diophantine inequality is a propor- Q+ note by hAi the submonoid of ( 0 , +) gener- tionally modular Diophantine inequality with ated by A, whose definition is the same of that proportion equal to one. A numerical semigroup used in the previous section. Clearly, S(A) = is said to be modular if it is the set of solutions of N N hAi ∩ is a submonoid of . It is proved in some modular Diophantine inequality. Clearly, [52] that if a, b and c are positive integers with every modular numerical semigroup is propor- c<a<b, then S(a, b, c) = S b , b . Since a a−c tionally modular, and this inclusion is strict as S(a, b, c) = N when a ≥ c, and the inequality it is proved in [52]. A formula for g(S(a, b, 1)) in ax mod b ≤ cx has the same integer solutions as function of a and b is given in [53]. The problems (a mod b)x mod b ≤ cx, the condition c<a<b of finding formulas for F(S(a, b, 1)), m(S(a, b, 1)), is not restrictive. t(S(a, b, 1)) and e(S(a, b, 1)) remain open. It is As a consequence of the results proved in [52], not known if the mentioned conjecture of Wilf is we have that a numerical semigroup S is pro- true for modular semigroups neither. portionally modular if and only if there exist 3 A semigroup of the form {0, m, →} is said to way the sequences be ordinary. A numerical semigroup S is an 0 < 1 < 1 open modular numerical semigroup if it is or- 1 1 0 dinary or of it is the form S = S b , b for a a−1 0 < 1 < 1 < 2 < 1 some integers 2 ≤ a < b.