Block-separating congruence lattices of \(E\)-bisimple semigroups. (Q1764615)

Following \textit{R. J. Warne} [J. Nat. Sci. Math. 11, 51-81 (1971; Zbl 0278.20062)], a semigroup \(S\) is \(E\)-bisimple if it is bisimple and its set \(E_S\) of idempotents is an \(\omega\)-chain of right zero semigroups, or ``blocks'', such that each idempotent in any block is above each idempotent in any lower one. In a sequel [Words, Languages and Combinatorics II, Kyoto 1992, World Scientific. 425-442 (1994; Zbl 0900.20126)], \textit{R. J. Warne} showed that every congruence on an \(E\)-bisimple semigroup is either a group congruence or is ``block-separating'', that is, idempotents related by such a congruence must lie in the same block. This generalized well known results on congruences on \(\omega\)-bisimple semigroups, which are just the \(E\)-bisimple semigroups in which every block is trivial. The block-separating congruences form a sublattice of the entire congruence lattice. The authors determine the congruence relation \(\mathcal T\) on this sublattice, in terms of the parameters in Warne's description of such congruences. This well known relation identifies congruences that have the same restriction to \(E_S\). They introduce another relation, \(\mathcal W\), on this sublattice (which turns out to be the restriction of \({\mathcal K}\cap{\mathcal T}_r\) to the sublattice, in the language of \textit{F. Pastijn} and \textit{M. Petrich} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 53, No. 1/2, 93-123 (1988; Zbl 0649.20052)]), study its interaction with \(\mathcal T\) and compute the minimum and maximum congruences in the classes of each relation.