On the ''del'' relation in join-semilattices (Q1061153)

In a lattice L with 0, \(a\nabla b\) means that \((a\vee x)\wedge b=x\wedge b\) for every \(x\in L\). F. Maeda and S. Maeda established an important connection between this relation and direct sum decompositions of lattices with 0. For atomistic lattices, further results on the \(\nabla\)- relation were obtained by them as well as by the reviewer. In the present paper the authors extend the \(\nabla\)-relation to a join- semilattice L by writing \(a\nabla b\) to mean that \(y\leq x\vee a\) and \(y\leq b\) together imply \(y\leq x\). They then extend the known lattice theoretic results concerning the \(\nabla\)-relation to the context of join-semilattices. Included here is an analogue of the connection with direct sum decompositions, and the obvious extension of results on atomistic lattices to atomistic join-semilattices. The results are too numerous to be specifically mentioned here. It should be noted, however, that this paper represents much more than a mere extension of lattice theoretic results to a join-semilattice setting. There are also many new results. Of special interest, there is an intriguing connection established between the \(\nabla\)-relation in a join semilattice L and the \(\nabla\)-relation in \(\bar L,\) the completion by cuts of L. Here are some sample results. If \(J_ a\) denotes the principal ideal generated by a, then it is shown that \(a\nabla b\) in L is equivalent to \(J_ a\nabla J_ b\) in \(\bar L.\) This is interesting since L distributive need not imply that \(\bar L\) is distributive. The element s of L is said to be \(\nabla\)-standard if \(s\wedge a=0\) implies \(s\nabla a\). It is shown that s \(\nabla\)-standard implies \(J_ s\) \(\nabla\)-standard in \(\bar L.\) It follows from this, for example, that if L is a section semicomplemented lattice, then s standard in L if and only if \(J_ s\) is standard in \(\bar L,\) thus establishing a relation between congruences on L and congruences on \(\bar L.\)