Completely distributive lattice

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In the mathematical area of order theory, a completely distributive lattice is a complete lattice in which arbitrary
joins distribute over arbitrary meets.
Formally, a complete lattice L is said to be completely distributive if, for any doubly indexed family {xj,k | j in J, k
in Kj} of L, we have

xj,k = xj,f (j)
jJ kKj f F jJ

where F is the set of choice functions f choosing for each index j of J some index f(j) in Kj.[1]
Complete distributivity is a self-dual property, i.e. dualizing the above statement yields the same class of complete
lattices.[1]
Without the axiom of choice, no complete lattice with more than one element can ever satisfy the above property,
as one can just let xj,k equal the top element of L for all indices j and k with all of the sets Kj being nonempty but
having no choice function.

1 Alternative characterizations
Various dierent characterizations exist. For example, the following is an equivalent law that avoids the use of choice
functions. For any set S of sets, we dene the set S # to be the set of all subsets X of the complete lattice that have
non-empty intersection with all members of S. We then can dene complete distributivity via the statement

{ Y | Y S} = { Z | Z S # }

The operator ( )# might be called the crosscut operator. This version of complete distributivity only implies the
original notion when admitting the Axiom of Choice.

2 Properties
In addition, it is known that the following statements are equivalent for any complete lattice L:[2]

L is completely distributive.

L can be embedded into a direct product of chains [0,1] by an order embedding that preserves arbitrary meets
and joins.

Both L and its dual order Lop are continuous posets.

Direct products of [0,1], i.e. sets of all functions from some set X to [0,1] ordered pointwise, are also called cubes.

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3 Free completely distributive lattices

Every poset C can be completed in a completely distributive lattice.
A completely distributive lattice L is called the free completely distributive lattice over a poset C if and only if
there is an order embedding : C L such that for every completely distributive lattice M and monotonic function
f : C M , there is a unique complete homomorphism f : L M satisfying f = f . For every poset C,
the free completely distributive lattice over a poset C exists and is unique up to isomorphism.[3]
This is an instance of the concept of free object. Since a set X can be considered as a poset with the discrete order,
the above result guarantees the existence of the free completely distributive lattice over the set X.

4 Examples
The unit interval [0,1], ordered in the natural way, is a completely distributive lattice.[4]
More generally, any complete chain is a completely distributive lattice.[5]

The power set lattice (P(X), ) for any set X is a completely distributive lattice.[1]

For every poset C, there is a free completely distributive lattice over C.[3] See the section on Free completely
distributive lattices above.

5 See also
Glossary of order theory
Distributive lattice

6 References
[1] B. A. Davey and H. A. Priestey, Introduction to Lattices and Order 2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN
0-521-78451-4

[2] G. N. Raney, A subdirect-union representation for completely distributive complete lattices, Proceedings of the American
Mathematical Society, 4: 518 - 522, 1953.

[3] Joseph M. Morris, Augmenting Types with Unbounded Demonic and Angelic Nondeterminacy, Mathematics of Program
Construction, LNCS 3125, 274-288, 2004

[4] G. N. Raney, Completely distributive complete lattices, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, 3: 677 - 680,
1952.

[5] Alan Hopenwasser, Complete Distributivity, Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics, 51(1), 285 - 305, 1990.
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