This monograph thoroughly explores the development of the theory of varieties of semigroups and of two related algebras: involution semigroups and monoids. Through this in-depth analysis, readers will attain a deeper understanding of the differences between these three types of varieties, which may otherwise seem counterintuitive. New results with detailed proofs are also presented that answer previously unsolved fundamental problems. Featuring both a comprehensive overview as well as highlighting the author’s own significant contributions to the area, this book will help establish this subfield as a matter of timely interest. Advances in the Theory of Varieties of Semigroups will appeal to researchers in universal algebra and will be particularly valuable for specialists in semigroups.

In semigroup theory there are certain kinds of band decompositions, which are very useful in the study of the structure semigroups. There are a number of special semigroup classes in which these decompositions can be used very successfully. The book focuses attention on such classes of semigroups. Some of them are partially discussed in earlier books, but in the last thirty years new semigroup classes have appeared and a fairly large body of material has been published on them. The book provides a systematic review on this subject. The first chapter is an introduction. The remaining chapters are devoted to special semigroup classes. These are Putcha semigroups, commutative semigroups, weakly commutative semigroups, R-Commutative semigroups, conditionally commutative semigroups, RC-commutative semigroups, quasi commutative semigroups, medial semigroups, right commutative semigroups, externally commutative semigroups, E-m semigroups, WE-m semigroups, weakly exponential semigroups, (m,n)-commutative semigroups and n(2)-permutable semigroups. Audience: Students and researchers working in algebra and computer science.

This is the first book about commutative semigroups in general. Emphasis is on structure but the other parts of the theory are at least surveyed and a full set of about 850 references is included. The book is intended for mathematicians who do research on semigroups or who encounter commutative semigroups in their research.

A complete and systematic introduction to the fundamentals of the hyperequational theory of universal algebra, offering the newest results on solid varieties of semirings and semigroups. The book aims to develop the theory of solid varieties as a system of mathematical discourse that is applicable in several concrete situations. A unique feature of this book is the use of Galois connections to integrate different topics.

This comprehensive, encyclopedic text in four parts aims to give the reader — from the graduate student to the researcher/practitioner — a detailed understanding of modern finite semigroup theory, focusing in particular on advanced topics on the cutting edge of research. The q-theory of Finite Semigroups presents important techniques and results, many for the first time in book form, thereby updating and modernizing the semigroup theory literature.

Early in 1952 it became obvious that a new printing would be needed, and new advances in the theory called for extensive revision. It has been completely rewritten, mostly by Phillips, and much has been added while keeping the existing framework. Thus, the algebraic tools play a major role, and are introduced early, leading to a more satisfactory operational calculus and spectral theory. The Laplace-Stieltjes transform methods, used by Hille, have not been replaced but rather supplemented by the new tools. - Foreword.

The book presents major topics in semigroups, such as operator theory, partial differential equations, harmonic analysis, probability and statistics and classical and quantum mechanics, and applications. Along with a systematic development of the subject, the book emphasises on the explorations of the contact areas and interfaces, supported by the presentations of explicit computations, wherever feasible. Designed into seven chapters and three appendixes, the book targets to the graduate and senior undergraduate students of mathematics, as well as researchers in the respective areas. The book envisages the pre-requisites of a good understanding of real analysis with elements of the theory of measures and integration, and a first course in functional analysis and in the theory of operators. Chapters 4 through 6 contain advanced topics, which have many interesting applications such as the Feynman–Kac formula, the central limit theorem and the construction of Markov semigroups. Many examples have been given in each chapter, partly to initiate and motivate the theory developed and partly to underscore the applications. The choice of topics in this vastly developed book is a difficult one, and the authors have made an effort to stay closer to applications instead of bringing in too many abstract concepts.

The aim of this monograph is to give a self-contained introduction to the modern theory of finite transformation semigroups with a strong emphasis on concrete examples and combinatorial applications. It covers the following topics on the examples of the three classical finite transformation semigroups: transformations and semigroups, ideals and Green's relations, subsemigroups, congruences, endomorphisms, nilpotent subsemigroups, presentations, actions on sets, linear representations, cross-sections and variants. The book contains many exercises and historical comments and is directed first of all to both graduate and postgraduate students looking for an introduction to the theory of transformation semigroups, but also to tutors and researchers.

The Fourier transform and the Laplace transform of a positive measure share, together with its moment sequence, a positive definiteness property which under certain regularity assumptions is characteristic for such expressions. This is formulated in exact terms in the famous theorems of Bochner, Bernstein-Widder and Hamburger. All three theorems can be viewed as special cases of a general theorem about functions qJ on abelian semigroups with involution (S, +, *) which are positive definite in the sense that the matrix (qJ(sJ + Sk» is positive definite for all finite choices of elements St, . . . , Sn from S. The three basic results mentioned above correspond to (~, +, x* = -x), ([0, 00[, +, x* = x) and (No, +, n* = n). The purpose of this book is to provide a treatment of these positive definite functions on abelian semigroups with involution. In doing so we also discuss related topics such as negative definite functions, completely mono tone functions and Hoeffding-type inequalities. We view these subjects as important ingredients of harmonic analysis on semigroups. It has been our aim, simultaneously, to write a book which can serve as a textbook for an advanced graduate course, because we feel that the notion of positive definiteness is an important and basic notion which occurs in mathematics as often as the notion of a Hilbert space.

Motivated by applications in theoretical computer science, the theory of finite semigroups has emerged in recent years as an autonomous area of mathematics. It fruitfully combines methods, ideas and constructions from algebra, combinatorics, logic and topology. In simple terms, the theory aims at a classification of finite semigroups in certain classes called “pseudovarieties”. The classifying characteristics have both structural and syntactical aspects, the general connection between them being part of universal algebra. Besides providing a foundational study of the theory in the setting of arbitrary abstract finite algebras, this book stresses the syntactical approach to finite semigroups. This involves studying (relatively) free and profinite free semigroups and their presentations. The techniques used are illustrated in a systematic study of various operators on pseudovarieties of semigroups.