Abstract Algebra – Explicit Description of Z?N Z

abstract-algebramonoidsemigroupstensor-products

$\newcommand{\Q}{\mathbb{Q}}\newcommand{\N}{\mathbb{N}}\newcommand{\Z}{\mathbb{Z}}$Recall the definition of the tensor product $\otimes_{\mathbb{N}}$ of commutative monoids (see also this note by Harold Simmons).

Question. Is there an explicit/"nice" description of the tensor product $\Z\otimes_{\N}\Z$, where $\Z=(\Z,\cdot,1)$ is the multiplicative monoid of integers?


A partial description. Eric Wofsey mentioned a really nice way to partly describe $\Z\otimes_\N\Z$ here: since $\Z \setminus \{0\} \cong\N^{\oplus\N}\oplus\Z_2$ via the map sending a non-zero integer $k= \pm 2^{n_1}3^{n_2}5^{n_3}\cdots$ to $((n_1,n_2,n_3,\ldots),\mathrm{sgn}(k))$, we may use distributivity of tensor products along direct sums to write
\begin{align*}
(\Z\setminus\{0\})\otimes_{\N}(\Z\setminus\{0\}) &\cong (\N^{\oplus\N}\oplus\Z_2)\otimes_\N(\N^{\oplus\N}\oplus\Z_2)\\
&\cong (\N^{\oplus\N}\otimes_\N\N^{\oplus\N})\oplus(\N^{\oplus\N}\otimes_\N\Z_2)\oplus(\Z_2\otimes_\N\N^{\oplus\N})\oplus(\Z_2\otimes_\N\Z_2)\\
&\cong \N^{\oplus\N}\oplus\Z_2^{\oplus\N}\\
&\cong (\Z\setminus\{0\},\cdot)^{\oplus\N}.
\end{align*}

One could then add back $0$ to each factor of $\Z\setminus\{0\}$ above, adding new elements and relations to $(\Z\setminus\{0\},\cdot)^{\oplus\N}$. What is the result of this?

Best Answer

The computation of the tensor product of commutative monoids $\mathbb{Z} \otimes \mathbb{Z}$ can be reduced to the computation of $(\mathbb{Z} \setminus \{0\}) \otimes (\mathbb{Z} \setminus \{0\})$ as follows.

More generally, let $M$ be any commutative monoid (for example, $\mathbb{Z} \setminus \{0\}$ under multiplication). Then $M \sqcup \{0\}$ is a commutative monoid with zero which contains $M$ as a submonoid. This construction is left adjoint to the forgetful functor from commutative monoids with zero to commutative monoids. But since we only work with commutative monoids, here the universal property is a bit more complicated: $$\hom(M \sqcup \{0\},N) \cong \{(u,f) \in M \times \hom(M,N) : u \text{ absorbs } f(M)\}.$$ The condition means that $u \cdot f(m) = u$ for all $m \in M$. Since the tensor product can also be defined by the hom-tensor-adjunction, this easily implies that (and a direct proof is also possible) $$(M \sqcup \{0\}) \otimes N \cong (N \oplus (M \otimes N)) / (n \cdot (m \otimes n) = n)_{m \in M, n \in N}.$$ The quotient means that we mod out the smallest congruence relation which makes $n \cdot (m \otimes n)$ and $n$ equivalent, for all $m \in M$, $n \in N$. We can use this twice to deduce $$(M \sqcup \{0\}) \otimes (N \sqcup \{0\}) \cong (M \oplus N \oplus (M \otimes N)) \sqcup \{0\}/\\ (n \cdot (m \otimes n) = n,\, m \cdot (m \otimes n) = m)_{m \in M, n \in N}.$$ As already said in my comment, notice that the tensor product is much easier if we work in the category of commutative monoids with zero, since in that case we just have $(M \sqcup \{0\}) \otimes_0 (N \sqcup \{0\}) \cong (M \otimes N) \sqcup \{0\}$ by general nonsense.

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