Complete semigroups of binary relations defined by elementary and nodal \(X\)-semilattices of unions (Q1848032)

[This is a translation of a paper that appeared in Russian in Itogi Nauki Tekh., Ser. Sovrem. Mat. Prilozh., Temat. Obz. 81 (2001), Algebra--19.] Let \(D\) be a complete semilattice of subsets of a set \(X\). The operation in \(D\) is the set-theoretical union of subsets of \(D\). We say that \(D\) is a complete \(X\)-semilattice of unions. If \(f\) is an arbitrary mapping \(X\to D\), consider the binary relation \(\alpha_f=\bigcup(\{x\}\times\{f(x)\})\) over all \(x\in X\). Let \({\mathcal B}_X(D)\) denote the set of all such \(\alpha_f\) for all \(f\colon X\to D\). Then \({\mathcal B}_X(D)\) is a semigroup of binary relations. It is called a complete semigroup of binary relations defined by \(D\). Let \(D^\vee\) be the union of all elements of \(D\). We say that \(D\) is elementary if the union of any two distinct elements of \(D\) is \(D^\vee\) and the set-theoretical intersection of any two elements of \(D\) is never empty. Suppose that \(D=\{Z_1,Z_2,D^\vee\}\), where \(Z_1\) and \(Z_2\) are nonempty disjoint subsets of \(X\) and \(D^\vee=Z_1\cup Z_2\). Then \(D\) is a complete \(X\)-semilattice of unions. We call this \(D\) nodal. The authors study the two classes of the semigroups of binary relations mentioned in the title of their paper paying a special attention to the structure of idempotents (the idempotents form noncommutative subsemigroups in this case), regular elements (they, too, form a subsemigroup), and, in the ``elementary'' case, maximal subgroups and irreducible generating sets. When these semigroups are finite, the authors present formulas that can help calculate the numbers of all idempotent elements and of all regular elements.