Global Product Intersection Sets in Semigroups

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: van Doorn, Wouter, Monticone, Pietro, Tang, Quanyu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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_version_ 1866908994919989248
author van Doorn, Wouter
Monticone, Pietro
Tang, Quanyu
author_facet van Doorn, Wouter
Monticone, Pietro
Tang, Quanyu
contents For a family $(A_q)_{q\in Q}$ of subsets of a semigroup, the product intersection set records those exponents $h \in \mathbb{N}$ for which the $h$-fold product set of the intersection, $(\bigcap_q A_q)^h$, is equal to $\bigcap_q A_q^h$, the intersection of the product sets. Nathanson recently asked which subsets of $\mathbb{N}$ can occur as a product intersection set, both for arbitrary and for decreasing families $(A_q)_{q\in Q}$. We solve both problems by giving a complete classification. In particular, when $|Q| \ge 2$, we show that in either case any subset $X \subseteq \mathbb{N}$ with $1 \in X$ occurs as a product intersection set. Both classifications were autonomously discovered and formally verified in Lean by Aristotle, a formal reasoning agent developed by Harmonic.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_18869
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Global Product Intersection Sets in Semigroups
van Doorn, Wouter
Monticone, Pietro
Tang, Quanyu
Combinatorics
Group Theory
Number Theory
11B13, 11B05, 11B75, 11P70, 22D99
For a family $(A_q)_{q\in Q}$ of subsets of a semigroup, the product intersection set records those exponents $h \in \mathbb{N}$ for which the $h$-fold product set of the intersection, $(\bigcap_q A_q)^h$, is equal to $\bigcap_q A_q^h$, the intersection of the product sets. Nathanson recently asked which subsets of $\mathbb{N}$ can occur as a product intersection set, both for arbitrary and for decreasing families $(A_q)_{q\in Q}$. We solve both problems by giving a complete classification. In particular, when $|Q| \ge 2$, we show that in either case any subset $X \subseteq \mathbb{N}$ with $1 \in X$ occurs as a product intersection set. Both classifications were autonomously discovered and formally verified in Lean by Aristotle, a formal reasoning agent developed by Harmonic.
title Global Product Intersection Sets in Semigroups
topic Combinatorics
Group Theory
Number Theory
11B13, 11B05, 11B75, 11P70, 22D99
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.18869