The Schützenberger category of a semigroup. (Q906965)

Let \(S\) be a semigroup. The so called Schützenberger category \(\mathbb D(S)\) of \(S\) is introduced. The objects of \(\mathbb D(S)\) are elements of \(S\) and morphisms from \(t\) to \(s\) are triples \((s,u,t)\) such that \(u\in sS^1\cap S^1t\). The composition of morphisms is defined by \((s,xt,t)(t,ty,r)=(s,xty,r)\), \(x,y\in S^1\). The identity at \(s\) is \((s,s,s)\). The automorphism group at an object \(s\) is the known Schützenberger group of the \(\mathcal H\)-class of \(s\) in \(S\). Two objects of \(\mathbb D(S)\) are isomorphic if and only if they are \(\mathcal D\)-equivalent. The full subcategory of \(\mathbb D(S)\) on the idempotents is the Karoubi envelope \(\mathbb K(S)\) of the semigroup \(S\). The connections between actions of semigroups and actions of their associated categories are discussed. The authors mention that some technical results are established that were used in a companion paper [\textit{A. Costa} and \textit{B. Steinberg}, Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 36, No. 2, 470-513 (2016; Zbl 1355.37021)].