−Table of Contents
Semilattices
Abbreviation: Slat
Definition
A \emph{semilattice} is a structure S=⟨S,⋅⟩, where ⋅ is an infix binary operation, called the \emph{semilattice operation}, such that
⋅ is associative: (xy)z=x(yz)
⋅ is commutative: xy=yx
⋅ is idempotent: xx=x
Remark: This definition shows that semilattices form a variety.
Morphisms
Let S and T be semilattices. A morphism from S to T is a function h:S→T that is a homomorphism:
h(xy)=h(x)h(y)
Definition
A \emph{join-semilattice} is a structure S=⟨S,≤,∨⟩, where ∨ is an infix binary operation, called the \emph{join}, such that
≤ is a partial order,
x≤y⟹x∨z≤y∨z and z∨x≤z∨y,
x≤x∨y and y≤x∨y,
x∨x≤x.
This definition shows that semilattices form a partially-ordered variety.
Definition
A \emph{join-semilattice} is a structure S=⟨S,∨⟩, where ∨ is an infix binary operation, called the \emph{join}, such that
≤ is a partial order, where x≤y⟺x∨y=y
x∨y is the least upper bound of {x,y}.
Definition
A \emph{meet-semilattice} is a structure S=⟨S,∧⟩, where ∧ is an infix binary operation, called the \emph{meet}, such that
≤ is a partial order, where x≤y⟺x∧y=x
x∧y is the greatest lower bound of {x,y}.
Examples
Example 1: ⟨Pω(X)−{∅},∪⟩, the set of finite nonempty subsets of a set X, with union, is the free join-semilattice with singleton subsets of X as generators.
Basic results
Properties
| Classtype | variety |
|---|---|
| Equational theory | decidable in polynomial time |
| Quasiequational theory | decidable |
| First-order theory | undecidable |
| Locally finite | yes |
| Residual size | 2 |
| Congruence distributive | no |
| Congruence modular | no |
| Congruence meet-semidistributive | yes |
| Congruence n-permutable | no |
| Congruence regular | no |
| Congruence uniform | no |
| Congruence extension property | yes |
| Definable principal congruences | yes |
| Equationally def. pr. cong. | no |
| Amalgamation property | yes |
| Strong amalgamation property | yes |
| Epimorphisms are surjective | yes |
\end{table}
Finite members
f(1)=1f(2)=1f(3)=2f(4)=5f(5)=15f(6)=53f(7)=222f(8)=1078f(9)=5994f(10)=37622f(11)=262776f(12)=2018305f(13)=16873364f(14)=152233518f(15)=1471613387f(16)=15150569446f(17)=165269824761
These results follow from the paper below and the observation that semilattices with n elements are in 1-1 correspondence to lattices with n+1 elements.
Jobst Heitzig,J\“urgen Reinhold,\emph{Counting finite lattices}, Algebra Universalis, \textbf{48}2002,43–53MRreview