Cover of a value in a lattice-ordered group 2026-10-14
If is a value in a lattice-ordered group of , every convex lattice subgroup strictly containing contains . Thus the convex lattice subgroup generated by and is the unique least subgroup properly containing . It is called the cover of . There is no intermediate convex lattice subgroup. A normal-valued lattice-ordered group requires to be a normal subgroup of this cover, not necessarily of the whole group. Values are prime convex lattice subgroups: maximality omitting makes them meet-irreducible in the lattice of convex lattice subgroups, so their ordered right cosets form a chain.
Holland representation theorem 2026-10-14
Every lattice-ordered group embeds in a lattice-ordered permutation group on one totally ordered set. Choose a value in a lattice-ordered group for each nonidentity element, act on its ordered right cosets, and combine these chains in an order sum. The original element moves its own value's identity coset, making the action faithful. The coset lattice formulas make the embedding preserve both join and meet.
Normal-valued lattice-ordered group 2026-10-14
A lattice-ordered group is normal-valued when every value in a lattice-ordered group is a normal subgroup of its cover. Normality in the cover is weaker than normality in the entire group. Every linearly ordered group is normal-valued.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 4 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put and write for the nonnegative cone, including the identity. Every element of this cone is its own absolute value in a lattice-ordered group, so the desired condition is equivalent toWe prove this equivalence with normal-valued lattice-ordered group without assuming any characterization of normal values. Membership of in a convex lattice subgroup is equivalent to membership of , so it suffices to discuss values of elements . A value in a lattice-ordered group of means a convex lattice subgroup maximal among those omitting . Its cover of a value in a lattice-ordered group will be denoted : normal-valued means , not .
We first record facts about values and the coset order. Zorn's lemma supplies a value omitting any , and supplies one containing any specified convex lattice subgroup that omits . If is a value of , every convex lattice subgroup strictly containing contains . Therefore is the least such subgroup and there are no intermediate convex lattice subgroups. Moreover, if and both strictly contain , then both contain , a contradiction. The criterion proved in part (i) thus makes a prime convex lattice subgroup: its right cosets are totally ordered. Equivalently, for with , at least one belongs to . The equivalence follows because the coset projection preserves finite meets; in proving this, inequalities with two elements of can be replaced by their join.
The right-coset order gives the useful testIndeed, gives , and convexity gives membership. Conversely the displayed positive part itself supplies such a . We will also use the basic lattice-ordered group identity that : the positive and negative parts of one element are disjoint.
Here is a squared bound from comparison at values. Suppose and for every value of . Then . To prove it, putand suppose . Choose a value of . If , then , so , a contradiction. Otherwise extend to a value of .
If , set . Since and , test (2) gives . The element is outside : membership would imply , contradicting . It is consequently outside . Its inverse positive part isbecause . These two positive parts have meet , so primeness of forces , again a contradiction.
If , then , and . Necessarily , since otherwise would put in . Hence . As before, is outside and outside , while its inverse positive part ishere . Primeness again yields the contradiction . Thus , proving the bound. This auxiliary argument uses no normality assumption.
Suppose first that all values are normal in their covers. Given , put . If , both factors are and (1) holds. Otherwise choose any value of . Since , both factors belong to . The quotient group is a linearly ordered group, because is prime and is normal in . It has no nontrivial proper convex subgroup of an ordered group, since such a subgroup would lift to an intermediate convex lattice subgroup between and .
This quotient is an Archimedean ordered group. If and all powers were bounded by some , the principal convex lattice subgroup generated by would be a nontrivial proper subgroup: it cannot contain , since would contradict . That contradicts the preceding paragraph.
For completeness, Archimedean linearly ordered groups are Abelian by the following elementary argument. If there is a least positive element , its powers are cofinal and every element lies between consecutive powers; absence of any element between and makes the group cyclic. Otherwise, for every there is with : choose and put . If , use ; if not, multiplication of gives , so use . If positive did not commute, interchange them to have and put . Choose and, by the Archimedean property, integers with and . Two-sided order invariance givesa contradiction. Arbitrary nonidentity elements can be replaced by their positive inverses without changing whether they commute. This proves commutativity without assuming the characterization being proved.
It follows that . Apply the squared-bound lemma with , and , for all values of this . We obtainTaking and gives the required inequality.
Conversely, assume (1). We need one-sided bounds for adjoining a positive element. If is any convex lattice subgroup and , thenFor the first equality, denote the indicated set by . The inequality (1) allows a positive power of to move past a positive element of , at the cost of squaring:Also and . Applying the bound in both orders, and taking the join of the two resulting elements of and the larger exponent, bounds in the same form. Inversion does not change . A common bound obtained from and the larger exponent proves closure under join, meet and order intervals. Thus is a convex lattice subgroup containing and . Conversely every such subgroup contains each and everything whose absolute value it bounds, proving equality. The same proof in the opposite group proves the second equality, since (1) with the variables interchanged reads .
Let now be any value and . For each , the subgroup strictly contains and is contained in , so the cover property makes it equal to . Formula (3) therefore gives power cofinality in the cover of a value: for every there are powers withHere the left cosets carry the order obtained by inversion from the right-coset order; equivalently means for some .
Take and . If , then andThe inequality uses . But (4), applied to and the target , gives for some . This contradicts ; equality of those two cosets would itself imply . Hence .
To obtain the other inclusion, suppose . ThenLeft-coset cofinality in (4) gives , contradicting . Thus too. Every element of is a quotient of its two nonnegative lattice parts, so both conjugation inclusions hold for all . Positive elements of lying in already normalize , and every element of is a quotient of two nonnegative elements. ConsequentlyAll values have this property, so is normal-valued. At no stage was normality in the whole group assumed or required.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 4 3 A Solution 2026-10-14
For each , choose a value in a lattice-ordered group , using Zorn's lemma. Such a value is a prime convex lattice subgroup. Otherwise the last construction in Question 1(i) would give two larger convex lattice subgroups whose intersection is ; maximality among subgroups omitting would put in both, hence in their intersection. Thus the right coset set is a totally ordered set.
Right multiplication defines an action . It is well-defined, preserves the total order, and has inverse . The coset formulas from Question 1(i) show pointwise preservation of both join and meet, becauseand likewise for the meet.
Take the disjoint union of these chains, arranged in any fixed order sum of the indices . Let every act on each component by . This gives a lattice-ordered group homomorphism into the order automorphisms of one chain. It is injective: a nonidentity moves the identity coset in , since . Its image is closed under pointwise join and meet, giving exactly the required lattice-ordered permutation group. This is the Holland representation theorem.