On some categories of involutive centered residuated lattices (Q1005951)

Much of the present work is motivated by results due to Kalman relating lattices and Kleene algebras and the conviction that these can be lifted to the level of residuated lattices. In [Algebra Univers. 23, 262--292 (1986; Zbl 0621.06009)], \textit{R. Cignoli} showed that one of the key constructions in \textit{J. A. Kalman}'s paper [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 87, 485--491 (1958; Zbl 0228.06003)] induces a functor from the category of bounded distributive lattices into the category of Kleene algebras and that it has a left adjoint. Cignoli also showed that this adjunction restricts to one between the categories of Heyting algebras and of Nelson algebras and observed that this restriction is essentially a result obtained independently by Vakarelov and Fidel. Moreover, Kalman's adjunction can be further restricted to an adjunction between the category of Boolean algebras and that of three-valued Łukasiewicz algebras and also to an adjunction between the category of Stone algebras and that of regular \(\alpha\)-De Morgan algebras. Cignoli used the properties of the Kalman adjunction in order to provide natural proofs of results involving these categories of algebras. These applications of Kalman's construction to different varieties of Heyting algebras suggest that it is potentially fruitful to understand Kalman's work in the context of residuated lattices. So, the authors use these ideas in the present paper. This work involves different functors into the category of residuated lattices with involution. Some of the more interesting results involve the discovery of good subcategories of residuated lattices with involution. These constructions factor through these subcategories and the resulting factorizations have better properties than the original ones. In many cases, the process of finding such subcategories was inspired by a result at the level of distributive lattices and Kleene algebras.