Brian A. Davey - Böcker

Natural duality theory is one of the major growth areas within general algebra. This text provides a short path to the forefront of research in duality theory. It presents a coherent approach to new results in the area, as well as exposing open problems.Unary algebras play a special role throughout the text. Individual unary algebras are relatively simple and easy to work with. But as a class they have a rich and complex entanglement with dualisability. This combination of local simplicity and global complexity ensures that, for the study of natural duality theory, unary algebras are an excellent source of examples and counterexamples.A number of results appear here for the first time. In particular, the text ends with an appendix that provides a new and definitive approach to the concept of the rank of a finite algebra and its relationship with strong dualisability.

The theory of natural dualities, as presented in this text, is broad enough to encompass many known dualities through a rich assortment of substantive theorems, yet concrete enough to be used to generate an array of previously undiscovered dualities. This text will serve as a user manual for algebraists, for category theorists and for those who use algebra in their work, particularly mathematicians and computer scientists interested in non-classical logics. It will also give the specialist a complete account of the foundations, leading to the research frontier of this rapidly developing field. As the first text devoted to the theory of Natural Dualities, it provides an efficient path through a large body of results, examples and applications in this subject which is otherwise available only in scattered research papers. To enable the book to be used in courses, each chapter ends with an extensive exercise set. Several fundamental unsolved problems are included.