Our first main result shows that a graph product of right cancellative monoids is itself right cancellative. If each of the component monoids satisfies the condition that the intersection of two principal left ideals is either principal or empty, then so does the graph product. Our second main result gives a presentation for the inverse hull of such a graph product. We then specialize to the case of the inverse hulls of graph monoids, obtaining what we call ‘polygraph monoids’. Among other properties, we observe that polygraph monoids are F*-inverse. This follows from a general characterization of those right cancellative monoids with inverse hulls that are F*-inverse.

Let H be the generic Iwahori–Hecke algebra associated with a finite Coxeter group W. Recently, we have shown that H admits a natural cellular basis in the sense of Graham and Lehrer, provided that W is a Weyl group and all parameters of H are equal. The construction involves some data arising from the Kazhdan–Lusztig basis {Cw} of H and Lusztig's asymptotic ring J}. We attempt to study J and its representation theory from a new point of view. We show that J can be obtained in an entirely different fashion from the generic representations of H, without any reference to {Cw}. We then extend the construction of the cellular basis to the case where W is not crystallographic. Furthermore, if H is a multi-parameter algebra, we see that there always exists at least one cellular structure on H. Finally, the new construction of J may be extended to Hecke algebras associated with complex reflection groups.

Inspired by the results of Adin, Postnikov and Roichman, we propose combinatorial Gelfand models for semigroup algebras of some finite semigroups, which include the symmetric inverse semigroup, the dual symmetric inverse semigroup, the maximal factorizable subsemigroup in the dual symmetric inverse semigroup and the factor power of the symmetric group. Furthermore, we extend the Gelfand model for the semigroup algebras of the symmetric inverse semigroup to a Gelfand model for the q-rook monoid algebra.

A variety is said to be a Rees–Sushkevich variety if it is contained in a periodic variety generated by 0-simple semigroups. Recently, all combinatorial Rees–Sushkevich varieties have been shown to be finitely based. The present paper continues the investigation of these varieties by describing those that are Cross, finitely generated, or small. It is shown that within the lattice of combinatorial Rees–Sushkevich varieties, the set ℱ of finitely generated varieties constitutes an incomplete sublattice and the set 𝒮 of small varieties constitutes a strict incomplete sublattice of ℱ. Consequently, a combinatorial Rees–Sushkevich variety is small if and only if it is Cross. An algorithm is also presented that decides if an arbitrarily given finite set Σ of identities defines, within the largest combinatorial Rees–Sushkevich variety, a subvariety that is finitely generated or small. This algorithm has complexity 𝒪(nk) where n is the number of identities in Σ and k is the length of the longest word in Σ.

We study behaviours of the ‘equianharmonic’ parameter of the Grothendieck–Teichmüller group introduced by Lochak and Schneps. Using geometric construction of a certain one-parameter family of quartics, we realize the Galois action on the fundamental group of a punctured Mordell elliptic curve in the standard Galois action on a specific subgroup of the braid group . A consequence is to represent a matrix specialization of the ‘equianharmonic’ parameter in terms of special values of the adelic beta function introduced and studied by Anderson and Ihara.

We introduce the notion of a strong representation of a semigroup in the monoid of endomorphisms of any mathematical structure, and use this concept to provide a theoretical description of the automorphism group of any semigroup. As an application of our general theorems, we extend to semigroups a well-known result concerning automorphisms of groups, and we determine the automorphism groups of certain transformation semigroups and of the fundamental inverse semigroups.

We give a qualitative description of the set 𝒪G(H) of overgroups in G of primitive subgroups H of finite alternating and symmetric groups G, and particularly of the maximal overgroups. We then show that certain weak restrictions on the lattice 𝒪G(H) impose strong restrictions on H and its overgroup lattice.

We give a graph-theoretic definition for the number of ends of Cayley digraphs for finitely generated semigroups and monoids. For semigroups and monoids, left Cayley digraphs can be very different from right Cayley digraphs. In either case, the number of ends for the Cayley digraph does not depend upon which finite set of generators is used for the semigroup or monoid. For natural numbers m and n, we exhibit finitely generated monoids for which the left Cayley digraphs have m ends while the right Cayley digraphs have n ends. For direct products and for many other semidirect products of a pair of finitely generated infinite monoids, the right Cayley digraph of the semidirect product has only one end. A finitely generated subsemigroup of a free semigroup has either one end or else has infinitely many ends.

A one-dimensional tiling is a bi-infinite string on a finite alphabet, and its tiling semigroup is an inverse semigroup whose elements are marked finite substrings of the tiling. We characterize the structure of these semigroups in the periodic case, in which the tiling is obtained by repetition of a fixed primitive word.

In this paper, we characterize quadratic number fields possessing unique factorization in terms of the power cancellation property of torsion-free rank-two abelian groups, in terms of Σ-unique decomposition, in terms of a pair of point set topological properties of Eilenberg–Mac Lane spaces, and in terms of the sequence of rational primes. We give a complete set of topological invariants of abelian groups, we characterize those abelian groups that have the power cancellation property in the category of abelian groups, and we characterize those abelian groups that have Σ-unique decomposition. Our methods can be used to characterize any direct sum decomposition property of an abelian group.

For a fixed parabolic subalgebra 𝔭 of we prove that the centre of the principal block 𝒪0𝔭 of the parabolic category 𝒪 is naturally isomorphic to the cohomology ring H*(ℬ𝔭) of the corresponding Springer fibre. We give a diagrammatic description of 𝒪0𝔭 for maximal parabolic 𝔭 and give an explicit isomorphism to Braden’s description of the category PervB(G(k,n)) of Schubert-constructible perverse sheaves on Grassmannians. As a consequence Khovanov’s algebra ℋn is realised as the endomorphism ring of some object from PervB(G(n,n)) which corresponds under localisation and the Riemann–Hilbert correspondence to a full projective–injective module in the corresponding category 𝒪0𝔭. From there one can deduce that Khovanov’s tangle invariants are obtained from the more general functorial invariants in [C. Stroppel, Categorification of the Temperley Lieb category, tangles, and cobordisms via projective functors, Duke Math. J. 126(3) (2005), 547–596] by restriction.

This paper investigates self-small abelian groups of finite torsion-free rank. We obtain a new characterization of infinite self-small groups. In addition, self-small groups of torsion-free rank 1 and their finite direct sums are discussed.

Let G be a group. A subset N of G is a set of pairwise noncommuting elements if xy⁄=yx for any two distinct elements x and y in N. If ∣N∣≥∣M∣ for any other set of pairwise noncommuting elements M in G, then N is said to be a maximal subset of pairwise noncommuting elements. In this paper we determine the cardinality of a maximal subset of pairwise noncommuting elements in a three-dimensional general linear group. Moreover, we show how to modify a given maximal subset of pairwise noncommuting elements into another maximal subset of pairwise noncommuting elements that contains a given ‘generating element’ from each maximal torus.

Let G be a group and let CAutΦ(G)(Z(Φ(G))) be the set of all automorphisms of G centralizing G/Φ(G) and Z(Φ(G)). For each prime p and finite p-group G, we prove that CAutΦ(G)(Z(Φ(G)))≤Inn(G) if and only if G is elementary abelian or Φ(G)=Z(G) and Z(G) is cyclic.

We introduce partial actions of weakly left E-ample semigroups, thus extending both the notion of partial actions of inverse semigroups and that of partial actions of monoids. Weakly left E-ample semigroups arise very naturally as subsemigroups of partial transformation semigroups which are closed under the unary operation α↦α+, where α+ is the identity map on the domain of α. We investigate the construction of ‘actions’ from such partial actions, making a connection with the FA-morphisms of Gomes. We observe that if the methods introduced in the monoid case by Megrelishvili and Schröder, and by the second author, are to be extended appropriately to the case of weakly left E-ample semigroups, then we must construct not global actions, but so-called incomplete actions. In particular, we show that a partial action of a weakly left E-ample semigroup is the restriction of an incomplete action. We specialize our approach to obtain corresponding results for inverse semigroups.

Semiclassical limits of generic multi-parameter quantized coordinate rings A=q(kn) of affine spaces are constructed and related to A, for k an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero and q a multiplicatively antisymmetric matrix whose entries generate a torsion-free subgroup of k×. A semiclassical limit of A is a Poisson algebra structure on the corresponding classical coordinate ring R=(kn), and results of Oh, Park, Shin and the authors are used to construct homeomorphisms from the Poisson-prime and Poisson-primitive spectra of R onto the prime and primitive spectra of~A. The Poisson-primitive spectrum of R is then identified with the space of symplectic cores in kn in the sense of Brown and Gordon, and an example is presented (over ℂ) for which the Poisson-primitive spectrum of R is not homeomorphic to the space of symplectic leaves in kn. Finally, these results are extended from quantum affine spaces to quantum affine toric varieties.

We extend the group theoretic notions of transfer and stable elements to graded centres of triangulated categories. When applied to the centre Z*(Db(B) of the derived bounded category of a block algebra B we show that the block cohomology H*(B) is isomorphic to a quotient of a certain subalgebra of stable elements of Z*(Db(B)) by some nilpotent ideal, and that a quotient of Z*(Db(B)) by some nilpotent ideal is Noetherian over H*(B).

A subgroup A of a group G has the strong cover-avoidance property in G, or A is a strong CAP-subgroup of G, if A either covers or avoids every chief factor of every subgroup of G containing A. The main aim of the present paper is to analyse the impact of the strong cover and avoidance property of the members of some relevant families of subgroups on the structure of a group.

Let G be a finite group. We prove that if the set of p-regular conjugacy class sizes of G has exactly two elements, then G has Abelian p-complement or G=PQ×A, with P∈Sylp(G), Q∈Sylq(G) and A Abelian.

In this paper we prove two main results. The first is a necessary and sufficient condition for a semidirect product of a semilattice by a group to be finitely generated. The second result is a necessary and sufficient condition for such a semidirect product to be finitely presented.