The semigroup of singular endomorphisms (Q1279800)

Let \(S_n\) denote the set of singular endomorphisms of a vector space \(V\) of dimension \(n\) over a field \(k\). It has long been known that \(S_n\) is an idempotent-generated regular semigroup. The author studies the minimal length of factorization of a given endomorphism \(T\) into a product of idempotents which are alternately \(\mathcal L\)- and \(\mathcal R\)-related through use of an equivalent category of inductive groupoids. A key ingredient in the combinatorial analysis is the so-called essential rank of \(T\) which is the dimension of the complement of the direct sum of the eigenspaces with associated characteristic values of 0 and of 1.