Associativity of the \(\nabla\)-operation on bands in rings. (Q2480764)

Given a multiplicative band of idempotents \(S\) in a ring \(R\), for all \(e,f\in S\), the \(\nabla\)-product \(e\nabla f=e+f+fe-efe-fef\) is an idempotent that lies roughly above \(e\) and \(f\) in \(R\) just as \(ef\) and \(fe\) lie roughly below \(e\) and \(f\). In this paper, the authors study \(\nabla\)-bands in rings, that is, bands in rings that are closed under \(\nabla\), giving various criteria for \(\nabla\) to be associative, thus making the band a skew lattice. The authors also consider when a given band \(S\) in \(R\) generates a \( \nabla\)-band.