Word problems in Elliott monoids

Abstract

Algorithmic issues concerning Elliott local semigroups are seldom considered in the literature, although these combinatorial structures completely classify AF algebras. In general, the addition operation of an Elliott local semigroup is {\it partial}, but for every AF algebra $\mathfrak B$ whose Murray-von Neumann order of projections is a lattice, this operation is uniquely extendible to the addition of an involutive monoid $E(\mathfrak B)$. Let $\mathfrak M_1$ be the Farey AF algebra introduced by the present author in 1988 and rediscovered by F. Boca in 2008. The freeness properties of the involutive monoid $E(\mathfrak M_1)$ yield a natural word problem for every AF algebra $\mathfrak B$ with singly generated $E(\mathfrak B)$, because $\mathfrak B$ is automatically a quotient of $\mathfrak M_1$. Given two formulas $ϕ$ and $ψ$ in the language of involutive monoids, the problem asks to decide whether $ϕ$ and $ψ$ code the same equivalence of projections of $\mathfrak B$. This mimics the classical definition of the word problem of a group presented by generators and relations. We show that the word problem of $\mathfrak M_1$ is solvable in polynomial time, and so is the word problem of the Behnke-Leptin algebras $\mathcal A_{n,k}$, and of the Effros-Shen algebras $\mathfrak F_θ$, for $θ\in [0,1]\setminus \mathbb Q$ a real algebraic number, or $θ= 1/e$. We construct a quotient of $\mathfrak M_1$ having a Gödel incomplete word problem, and show that no primitive quotient of $\mathfrak M_1$ is Gödel incomplete.