# Nucleus (order theory)

In mathematics, and especially in order theory, a nucleus is a function ${\displaystyle F}$ on a meet-semilattice ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {A}}}$ such that (for every ${\displaystyle p}$ in ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {A}}}$):[1]

1. ${\displaystyle p\leq F(p)}$
2. ${\displaystyle F(F(p))=F(p)}$
3. ${\displaystyle F(p\wedge q)=F(p)\wedge F(q)}$

Every nucleus is evidently a monotone function.

## Frames and locales

Usually, the term nucleus is used in frames and locales theory (when the semilattice ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {A}}}$  is a frame).

Proposition: If ${\displaystyle F}$  is a nucleus on a frame ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {A}}}$ , then the poset ${\displaystyle \operatorname {Fix} (F)}$  of fixed points of ${\displaystyle F}$ , with order inherited from ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {A}}}$ , is also a frame.[2]

## References

1. ^ Johnstone, Peter (1982), Stone Spaces, Cambridge University Press, p. 48, ISBN 978-0-521-33779-3, Zbl 0499.54001 CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
2. ^ Miraglia, Francisco (2006). An Introduction to Partially Ordered Structures and Sheaves. Polimetrica s.a.s. Theorem 13.2, p. 130. ISBN 9788876990359.