Wreath Products of Nonoverlapping Lattice Ordered Groups

Abstract

One of the fundamental tools in the theory of totally ordered groups is Hahn’s Theorem (a detailed discussion may be found in Fuchs [3]), which asserts, roughly, that every abelian totally ordered group can be embedded in a lexicographically ordered (unrestricted) direct sum of copies of the ordered group of real numbers. Almost any general question regarding the structure of abelian totally ordered groups can be answered by reference to Hahn’s theorem. For the class of nonabelian totally ordered groups, a theorem which parallels Hahn’s Theorem is given in [5], and states that each totally ordered group can be o-embedded in an ordered wreath product of subgroups of the real numbers. In order to extend this theorem to include an “if and only if” statement, one must consider lattice ordered groups, as an ordered wreath product of subgroups of the real numbers is, in general, not totally-ordered, but lattice ordered.