A regular \(\alpha\)-semigroup inducing a certain lattice (Q1916043)

\(X\) is a set with \(|X|\geq 3\) and \({\mathcal T}_X\) is the full transformation semigroup on \(X\). An \(\alpha\)-semigroup is any subsemigroup \(T(X)\) of \({\mathcal T}_X\) which contains the identity map and all constant maps. An equivalence relation \(E\) on \(X\) is a \(T\)-equivalence if \((f(x),f(y))\in E\) for all \((x,y)\in E\) and \(f\in T(X)\) and the set, \(T_{eq}(X)\), of all \(T\)-equivalences forms a complete lattice. For any equivalence relation \(F\) on \(X\), let \(T_F(X)=\{f\in{\mathcal T}_X:(f(a),f(b))\in F\;\forall (a,b)\in F\}\). Next, let \(\delta\) denote the diagonal relation, \(\omega\) the universal relation and for any equivalence relation \(E\), let \([E,\omega]\) be the interval determined by \(E\) and \(\omega\). Then, let \(T(X)=\bigcap\{T_F(X):F\in\{\delta\}\cup[E,\omega]\}\) and \(T_E'(X)=\{f\in T_E(X):\text{Ran}(f)=\{a,b\}\) and \((a,b)\in E\}\cup Z(X)\) where \(Z(X)\) consists of the identity map, together with all constant maps. In [Semigroup Forum 49, No. 1, 49-58 (1994; Zbl 0804.20046)], the author showed that \(T_{eq}(X)=(T_E')_{eq}(X)=\{\delta\}\cup[E,\omega]\) and that \(T(X)\) is the greatest \(\alpha\)-semigroup with this property. He then asked if \(T_E'(X)\) is the smallest \(\alpha\)-semigroup with this property and in this paper, he shows that the answer is negative. A number of other related results are also obtained.