This comprehensive, encyclopedic text in four parts aims to give the reader — from the graduate student to the researcher/practitioner — a detailed understanding of modern finite semigroup theory, focusing in particular on advanced topics on the cutting edge of research. The q-theory of Finite Semigroups presents important techniques and results, many for the first time in book form, thereby updating and modernizing the semigroup theory literature.

This first text on the subject provides a comprehensive introduction to the representation theory of finite monoids. Carefully worked examples and exercises provide the bells and whistles for graduate accessibility, bringing a broad range of advanced readers to the forefront of research in the area. Highlights of the text include applications to probability theory, symbolic dynamics, and automata theory. Comfort with module theory, a familiarity with ordinary group representation theory, and the basics of Wedderburn theory, are prerequisites for advanced graduate level study. Researchers in algebra, algebraic combinatorics, automata theory, and probability theory, will find this text enriching with its thorough presentation of applications of the theory to these fields. Prior knowledge of semigroup theory is not expected for the diverse readership that may benefit from this exposition. The approach taken in this book is highly module-theoretic and follows the modern flavor of the theory of finite dimensional algebras. The content is divided into 7 parts. Part I consists of 3 preliminary chapters with no prior knowledge beyond group theory assumed. Part II forms the core of the material giving a modern module-theoretic treatment of the Clifford –Munn–Ponizovskii theory of irreducible representations. Part III concerns character theory and the character table of a monoid. Part IV is devoted to the representation theory of inverse monoids and categories and Part V presents the theory of the Rhodes radical with applications to triangularizability. Part VI features 3 chapters devoted to applications to diverse areas of mathematics and forms a high point of the text. The last part, Part VII, is concerned with advanced topics. There are also 3 appendices reviewing finite dimensional algebras, group representation theory, and Möbius inversion.

This book was originally written in 1969 by Berkeley mathematician John Rhodes. It is the founding work in what is now called algebraic engineering, an emerging field created by using the unifying scheme of finite state machine models and their complexity to tie together many fields: finite group theory, semigroup theory, automata and sequential machine theory, finite phase space physics, metabolic and evolutionary biology, epistemology, mathematical theory of psychoanalysis, philosophy, and game theory. The author thus introduced a completely original algebraic approach to complexity and the understanding of finite systems. The unpublished manuscript, often referred to as "The Wild Book," became an underground classic, continually requested in manuscript form, and read by many leading researchers in mathematics, complex systems, artificial intelligence, and systems biology. Yet it has never been available in print until now. This first published edition has been edited and updated by Chrystopher Nehaniv for the 21st century. Its novel and rigorous development of the mathematical theory of complexity via algebraic automata theory reveals deep and unexpected connections between algebra (semigroups) and areas of science and engineering. Co-founded by John Rhodes and Kenneth Krohn in 1962, algebraic automata theory has grown into a vibrant area of research, including the complexity of automata, and semigroups and machines from an algebraic viewpoint, and which also touches on infinite groups, and other areas of algebra. This book sets the stage for the application of algebraic automata theory to areas outside mathematics. The material and references have been brought up to date bythe editor as much as possible, yet the book retains its distinct character and the bold yet rigorous style of the author. Included are treatments of topics such as models of time as algebra via semigroup theory; evolution-complexity relations applicable to both ontogeny and evolution; an approach to classification of biological reactions and pathways; the relationships among coordinate systems, symmetry, and conservation principles in physics; discussion of "punctuated equilibrium" (prior to Stephen Jay Gould); games; and applications to psychology, psychoanalysis, epistemology, and the purpose of life. The approach and contents will be of interest to a variety of researchers and students in algebra as well as to the diverse, growing areas of applications of algebra in science and engineering. Moreover, many parts of the book will be intelligible to non-mathematicians, including students and experts from diverse backgrounds.

This monograph thoroughly explores the development of the theory of varieties of semigroups and of two related algebras: involution semigroups and monoids. Through this in-depth analysis, readers will attain a deeper understanding of the differences between these three types of varieties, which may otherwise seem counterintuitive. New results with detailed proofs are also presented that answer previously unsolved fundamental problems. Featuring both a comprehensive overview as well as highlighting the author’s own significant contributions to the area, this book will help establish this subfield as a matter of timely interest. Advances in the Theory of Varieties of Semigroups will appeal to researchers in universal algebra and will be particularly valuable for specialists in semigroups.

This festschrift volume in honour of Donald B McAlister on the occasion of his 65th birthday presents papers from leading researchers in semigroups and formal languages. The contributors cover a number of areas of current interest: from pseudovarieties and regular languages to ordered groupoids and one-relator groups, and from semigroup algebras to presentations of monoids and transformation semigroups. The papers are accessible to graduate students as well as researchers seeking new directions for future work.

This festschrift volume in honour of Donald B McAlister on the occasion of his 65th birthday presents papers from leading researchers in semigroups and formal languages. The contributors cover a number of areas of current interest: from pseudovarieties and regular languages to ordered groupoids and one-relator groups, and from semigroup algebras to presentations of monoids and transformation semigroups. The papers are accessible to graduate students as well as researchers seeking new directions for future work.

This festschrift volume in honour of Donald B McAlister on the occasion of his 65th birthday presents papers from leading researchers in semigroups and formal languages. The contributors cover a number of areas of current interest: from pseudovarieties and regular languages to ordered groupoids and one-relator groups, and from semigroup algebras to presentations of monoids and transformation semigroups. The papers are accessible to graduate students as well as researchers seeking new directions for future work.

This comprehensive, encyclopedic text in four parts aims to give the reader — from the graduate student to the researcher/practitioner — a detailed understanding of modern finite semigroup theory, focusing in particular on advanced topics on the cutting edge of research. The q-theory of Finite Semigroups presents important techniques and results, many for the first time in book form, thereby updating and modernizing the semigroup theory literature.

The purpose of the Berkeley Workshop on Monoids was to give expository talks by the most qualified experts in the emerging main areas of monoid and semigroup theory including applications to theoretical computer science. This was supplemented with current research papers. The topics covered, in an accessible way for the mathematical and theoretical computer community, were: Kernels and expansions in semigroup theory; Implicit operations; Inverse monoids; Varieties of semigroups and universal algebra; Linear semigroups and monoids of Lie type; Monoids acting on tress; Synthesis theorem, regular semigroups, and applications; Type-II conjecture; Application to theoretical computer science and decision problems.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Developments in Language Theory, DLT 2021, which was held in Porto, Portugal, during August 16-20, 2021. The conference took place in an hybrid format with both in-person and online participation. The 27 full papers included in these proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 48 submissions. The DLT conference series provides a forum for presenting current developments in formal languages and automata. Its scope is very general and includes, among others, the following topics and areas: grammars, acceptors and transducers for words, trees and graphs; algebraic theories of automata; algorithmic, combinatorial, and algebraic properties of words and languages; variable length codes; symbolic dynamics; cellular automata; polyominoes and multidimensional patterns; decidability questions; image manipulation and compression; efficient text algorithms; relationships to cryptography, concurrency, complexity theory, and logic; bio-inspired computing; quantum computing. The book also includes 3 invited talks in full paper length.