Endomorphism monoids of bands (Q1115535)

Let End(A) denote the monoid of all endomorphisms of an algebra A. A number of authors have been concerned with the problem of determining to what extent the structure of End(A) determines the structure of A for A within some variety V and the present authors are concerned with the problem as well. First of all, it is well known that the decomposition of a band B into \({\mathcal D}\)-classes is a congruence on B and the resulting quotient semigroup is a semilattice which is referred to as the structural semilattice of B. The authors prove that for every monoid M, there exist at most two nonisomorphic semilattices \(B_ 1\) and \(B_ 2\) of left zero semigroups such that \(End(B_ 1)\) and \(End(B_ 2)\) are both isomorphic to M. Moreover, if \(End(B_ 1)\) and \(End(B_ 2)\) are isomorphic but \(B_ 1\) and \(B_ 2\) are not, then their structural semilattices are anti-isomorphic chains. An analogous result holds for semilattices of right zero semigroups. They further prove that for every monoid M there exist at most four nonisomorphic left distributive bands whose endomorphism monoids are isomorphic to M. They also investigate the situation at the other end of the spectrum. A concrete category is called universal if a full subcategory is isomorphic to the category of all graphs and compatible mappings. It is known that if K is a universal category, M is any monoid and \(\alpha\) is any cardinal number, then there exist \(\alpha\) objects in K whose endomorphism monoids are all isomorphic to M but the objects are mutually rigid. The present authors show, for example, that the variety of regular involution bands is universal. They also investigate the category Band(S) of bands with a given quotient semilattice S where the morphisms are homomorphisms of bands which induce the identity mapping on their common structural quotient semilattice and they prove the existence of a finite semilattice S such that Band(S) is universal.