The Lattice of Subalgebras of a Boolean Algebra

Abstract

It is well known (1, p. 162) that the lattice of subalgebras of a finite Boolean algebra is dually isomorphic to a finite partition lattice. In this paper we study the lattice of subalgebras of an arbitrary Boolean algebra. One of our main results is that the lattice of subalgebras characterizes the Boolean algebra. In order to prove this result we introduce some notions which enable us to give a characterization and representation of the lattices of subalgebras of a Boolean algebra in terms of a closure operator on the lattice of partitions of the Boolean space associated with the Boolean algebra. Our theory then has some analogy to that of the lattice theory of topological vector spaces. Of some interest is the problem of classification of Boolean algebras in terms of the properties of their lattice of subalgebras, and we obtain some results in this direction.