Embedding in compact uniquely divisible semigroups

Abstract

D. R. Brown and M. Friedberg have conjectured that each compact abelian semigroup can be embedded in a compact divisible semigroup. V. R. Hancock proved that each abelian algebraic semigroup can be embedded in a divisible abelian algebraic semigroup. In this paper we provide a partial solution to the conjecture of Brown and Friedberg by employing a topological version of Hancock's method as part of our construction. A theorem giving sufficient conditions for the Bohr compactification of weakly reductive semigroups to be injective is proved and used in the proof of our main result.