Abstract. The study of algebraic properties of ordered structures
has shown that their behavior in many cases is different from
algebraic structures. For example, the analogues of the fundamental
mapping theorem for sets which characterizes surjective maps
as quotient sets modulo their kernel relations, is not true for orderpreserving
maps between posets (partially ordered sets). The main
objective of this paper is to study the quotients of dcpos (directed
complete partially ordered sets), and their relations with surjective
dcpo maps (directed join preserving maps). The motivation
of studying such infinitary ordered structures is their importance
in domain theory, a theory on the borderline of mathematics and
theoretical computer science.
In this paper, introducing the notion of a pre-congruence on
dcpos (directed complete partially ordered sets), we give a characterization
of dcpo congruences. Also, it is proved that unlike
natural dcpo congruences, the dcpo congruences are precisely kernels
of surjective dcpo maps. Also, while it is known that the image
of a dcpo map is not necessarily a subdcpo of its codomain, we find
equivalent conditions on a dcpo map to satisfy this property. Moreover,
we prove the Decomposition Theorem and its consequences
for dcpo maps.