Reticulation of Quasi-commutative Algebras

Abstract: The commutator operation in a congruence-modular variety $\mathcal{V}$ allows us to define the prime congruences of any algebra $A\in \mathcal{V}$ and the prime spectrum $Spec(A)$ of $A$. The first systematic study of this spectrum can be found in a paper by Agliano, published in Universal Algebra (1993). The reticulation of an algebra $A\in \mathcal{V}$ is a bounded distributive algebra $L(A)$, whose prime spectrum (endowed with the Stone topology) is homeomorphic to $Spec(A)$ (endowed with the topology defined by Agliano). In a paper, C. Mure\c{s}an and the author defined the reticulation for the algebras $A$ in a semidegenerate congruence-modular variety $\mathcal{V}$, satisfying the hypothesis $(H)$: the set $K(A)$ of compact congruences of $A$ is closed under commutators. This theory does not cover the Belluce reticulation for non-commutative rings. In this paper we shall introduce the quasi-commutative algebras in a semidegenerate congruence-modular variety $\mathcal{V}$ as a generalization of the Belluce quasi-commutative rings. We define and study a notion of reticulation for the quasi-commutative algebras such that the Belluce reticulation for the quasi-commutative rings can be obtained as a particular case. We prove a characterization theorem for the quasi-commutative algebras and some transfer properties by means of the reticulation