Definition

A pasture is an PP whose is the fusion ideal generated by its three-term null relations:

NP= ⁣a+b+c  |  a,b,cP, a+b+cNP ⁣.N_P= \left\langle\!\left\langle a+b+c\;\middle|\;a,b,c\in P,\ a+b+c\in N_P \right\rangle\!\right\rangle.

The double brackets denote closure under ideal operations and the . Consequently every pasture is a .

Morphisms are band morphisms: they preserve multiplication, 00, 11, and null sums.

Equivalent terminology

A band satisfying the displayed generation condition is called a hereditary fusion band. Hence a pasture is equivalently a hereditary fusion band that is also an idyll. It is not merely an arbitrary ordered blue field or tract.

Fields, , and hyperfields have associated pastures. The three-term condition is substantive: a general idyll can contain higher-arity null relations not generated from its three-term ones by fusion.

Three-term null relations encode the Grassmann–Plücker relations used for weak matroids and cross-ratios. Fusion then derives the higher-arity null relations by cancelling a term against its additive inverse.

References