On varieties generated by minimal complex semigroups. (Q953273)

A semigroup \(S\) is complex if every finite lattice embeds into the subvariety lattice of the variety \(\text{var\,}S\) generated by \(S\). \textit{E.~W.~H.~Lee} [Int. J. Algebra Comput. 17, No. 8, 1553-1572 (2007; Zbl 1143.20037)] has shown that the minimum size of a complex semigroup is 4 and that up to isomorphism and anti-isomorphism there are four 4-element complex semigroups, denoted by \(A\), \(B\), \(C\) and \(D\) in the paper under review. \textit{E.~W.~H.~Lee} [ibid. 16, No. 2, 417-441 (2006; Zbl 1103.20051)] has classified all subvarieties of the varieties \(\text{var\,}A\) and \(\text{var\,}B\). The authors give a classification of all subvarieties for the varieties \(\text{var\,}C\) and \(\text{var\,}D\). It is interesting that the ``complex'' variety \(\text{var\,}D\) turns out to be the lattice join of two ``simple'' varieties each of which is generated by a 3-element semigroup and has quite a transparent subvariety lattice (distributive and of width 2).