Kernel ideals and congruences on MS-algebras (Q2495542)

The concept of an MS-algebra was introduced by \textit{T. S. Blyth} and \textit{J. C. Varlet} [Proc. R. Soc. Edinb., Sect. A 94, 301--308 (1983; Zbl 0536.06013)]. It means a bounded distributive lattice endowed with a unary operation \('\) which satisfies \(x\leq x'',(x\wedge y)'=x'\vee y'\) and \(1'=0\). De Morgan algebras and Stone algebras are MS-algebras such that \(x=x''\) and \(x\wedge x'=0\), respectively. The present authors do not recall the concept of a kernel ideal. According to \textit{T. S. Blyth} [Lattices and ordered algebraic structures. London: Springer (2005; Zbl 1073.06001)], a kernel ideal of a lattice \(L\) is an ideal \(I\) of \(L\) which is the kernel of some congruence \(\theta\) on \(L\); the latter property means that \(I\) is the bottom element of the quotient lattice \(L/\theta\). It is known that relatively pseudocomplemented distributive lattices are characterized by the property that every ideal is the kernel of a unique congruence, but in MS-algebras the situation is more complicated. The main results of the present paper are the following. Let \(L\) be an MS-algebra. The first theorem provides a description, for a given kernel ideal \(I\) of \(L\), of the greatest congruence having \(I\) as a whole class. The subsequent results establish conditions under which the correspondence between congruences and kernel ideals is one-to-one (GP (good property) in this review). GP holds iff the zero ideal is a congruence class under precisely one congruence (Corollary 2.7). Theorems 3.3 and 3.4 deal with the case of a De Morgan algebra. They imply that GP holds iff \(L\) is a De Morgan algebra and the poset of prime ideals of \(L\) has length at most 1 (Corollary 3.5). A Stone algebra satisfies GP iff it is a Boolean algebra (Corollary 3.6).