2 Nearrings

Sections

1. Entering nearrings into the system
2. Some simple questions about the nearring
3. Entering the nearring with less typing

A (left) nearring is an algebra (N,+,*), where (N,+) is a (not necessarily abelian) group, (N,*) is a semigroup, and the distributive law x*(y+z) = x*y+x*z holds. Such nearrings are called left nearrings. A typical example is constructed as follows: take a group (G,+) (not necessarily abelian), and take the set M(G) of all mappings from G to G. Then we define + on M(G) as pointwise addition of mappings, and * by m * n (g) : = n (m (g)). The multiplication looks more natural if we write functions right of their arguments. Then the definition reads (g) m * n = ((g)m)n.

Textbooks on nearrings are <[>meldrum85:NATLWG], <[>Clay:Nearrings], <[>Ferrero:Nearrings]. They all use left nearrings. The book <[>Pilz:Nearrings] uses right nearrings; these are the algebras that arise if we claim the right distributive law (x + y) * z = x*z + y*z instead of the left distributive law given above.

SONATA uses left nearrings throughout.

2.1 Entering nearrings into the system

The problem: Input the nearring given in the example of page 406 of <[>Pilz:Nearrings] into SONATA.

This nearring is given by an explicit multiplication table. The function ExplicitMultiplicationNearRing can be used to do the job. But first, let's get the additive group, which is Klein's four group:

    gap> G := GTW4_2;
    4/2

    gap> AsSortedList( G );
    [ (), (3,4), (1,2), (1,2)(3,4) ]

    gap> SetSymbols( G, [ "0", "a", "b", "c" ] );
    gap> PrintTable( G );
    Let:
    0 := ()
    a := (3,4)
    b := (1,2)
    c := (1,2)(3,4)

      +  | 0 a b c     
      ------------    
      0  | 0 a b c     
      a  | a 0 c b     
      b  | b c 0 a     
      c  | c b a 0     

Now for entering the nearring multiplication: We will use the function NrMultiplicationByOperationTable. This function requires as one of its arguments a matrix of integers representing the operation table: We choose the entries of table according to the positions of the elements of G in AsSortedList( G ):

    gap> table := [ [ 1, 1, 1, 1 ],                 
    >               [ 1, 1, 2, 2 ],
    >               [ 1, 2, 4, 3 ],
    >               [ 1, 2, 3, 4 ] ];
    [ [ 1, 1, 1, 1 ], [ 1, 1, 2, 2 ], [ 1, 2, 4, 3 ], [ 1, 2, 3, 4 ] ]

Now we are in position to define a nearring multiplication:

    gap> mul:=NearRingMultiplicationByOperationTable(                        
    >             G, table, AsSortedList(G) );
    function( x, y ) ... end

And finally, we can define the nearring:

    gap> N := ExplicitMultiplicationNearRing( G, mul );
    ExplicitMultiplicationNearRing ( 4/2 , multiplication )

    gap> PrintTable( N );
    Let:
    0 := (())
    a := ((3,4))
    b := ((1,2))
    c := ((1,2)(3,4))

      +  | 0  a  b  c  
      ---------------
      0  | 0  a  b  c  
      a  | a  0  c  b  
      b  | b  c  0  a  
      c  | c  b  a  0  

      *  | 0  a  b  c  
      ---------------
      0  | 0  0  0  0  
      a  | 0  0  a  a  
      b  | 0  a  c  b  
      c  | 0  a  b  c  

2.2 Some simple questions about the nearring

Now, that the nearring is in the system, let's ask some questions about it. A nearring is a nearfield if it has more than one element and its nonzero elements are a group with respect to multiplication. A textbook on nearfields is <[>Waehling:Fastkoerper]. They are interesting structures, closely connected to sharply 2-transitive permutation groups and fixedpointfree automorphism groups of groups.

    gap> IsNearField( N );
    false
    gap> IsIntegralNearRing( N );
    false
    gap> IsNilpotentNearRing( N );
    false

2.3 Entering the nearring with less typing

Certainly, everybody has immediately seen, that this nearring is a transformation nearring on GTW4_2 which is generated by the transformations 0 to 0, a to a, b to c, c to b, and the identity transformation, so

    gap> t := GroupGeneralMappingByImages(                    
    >           G, G, AsSortedList(G), AsSortedList(G){[1,2,4,3]} );
    [ (), (3,4), (1,2), (1,2)(3,4) ] -> [ (), (3,4), (1,2)(3,4), (1,2) ]
    gap> id := IdentityMapping( G );
    IdentityMapping( 4/2 )
    gap> T := TransformationNearRingByGenerators( G, [t,id] );
    TransformationNearRingByGenerators(
    [ [ (), (3,4), (1,2), (1,2)(3,4) ] -> [ (), (3,4), (1,2)(3,4), (1,2) ], 
      IdentityMapping( 4/2 ) ])

Let's see what we've got:

    gap> PrintTable(T);
    Let:
    n0 := <mapping: 4/2 -> 4/2 >
    n1 := <mapping: 4/2 -> 4/2 >
    n2 := <mapping: 4/2 -> 4/2 >
    n3 := <mapping: 4/2 -> 4/2 >

       +  | n0  n1  n2  n3  
      --------------------
      n0  | n0  n1  n2  n3  
      n1  | n1  n0  n3  n2  
      n2  | n2  n3  n0  n1  
      n3  | n3  n2  n1  n0  

       *  | n0  n1  n2  n3  
      --------------------
      n0  | n0  n0  n0  n0  
      n1  | n0  n0  n1  n1  
      n2  | n0  n1  n2  n3  
      n3  | n0  n1  n3  n2  

Obviously, we've got the correct nearring. Let's make for sure:

    gap> IsIsomorphicNearRing( N, T );
    true

However, N and T are certaily not equal:

    gap> N = T;
    false

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