Factorization invariants of Puiseux monoids generated by geometric sequences

Abstract

We study some of the factorization invariants of the class of Puiseux monoids generated by geometric sequences, and we compare and contrast them with the known results for numerical monoids generated by arithmetic sequences. The class we study consists of all atomic monoids of the form $S_r := \langle r^n \mid n \in \mathbb{N}_0 \rangle,$ where $r$ is a positive rational. As the atomic monoids $S_r$ are nicely generated, we are able to give detailed descriptions of many of their factorization invariants. One distinguishing characteristic of $S_r$ is that all its sets of lengths are arithmetic sequences of the same distance, namely $|a-b|$, where $a,b \in \mathbb{N}$ are such that $r = a/b$ and $\text{gcd}(a,b) = 1$. We prove this, and then use it to study the elasticity and tameness of $S_r$.