On the nilpotent ranks of the principal factors of order-preserving transformation semigroups (Q1281612)

If a semigroup \(S\) is generated by its set \(N\) of nilpotent elements, then its nilpotent rank, \(\text{nrank }S\), is defined by \(\text{nrank }S=\min\{| A|:A\subseteq N\) and \(\langle A\rangle=S\}\). Let \(\text{Sing}_n\) denote the semigroup of all singular selfmaps of the set \(X_n=\{1,2,\dots,n\}\) and let \(O_n=\{\alpha\in\text{Sing}_n:x\leq y\Rightarrow x\alpha\leq y\alpha\) \(\forall x,y\in X_n\}\). Next, let \(L(n,r)=\{\alpha\in O_n:| X_n\alpha|\leq r\}\), where \(2\leq r\leq n-1\). The principal factors \(OP_r\) of \(O_n\) are given by \(OP_r=L(n,r)/L(n,r-1)\). The author shows that \(OP_2\) is not nilpotent generated and that, for all \(n\geq 4\), \(OP_{n-1}\) is nilpotent generated with \(\text{nrank }OP_{n-1}=n\). Finally, the author shows that \(OP_r\) is nilpotent generated with \(\text{nrank }OP_r={n\choose r}\) for \(2\leq r\leq n-2\).