On the decomposition of prime ideals of ordered semigroups into their \(\mathcal N\)-classes (Q688990)

For a partially ordered semigroup \((S,\cdot,\leq)\) a subset \(I\neq\emptyset\) is called an ideal if 1) \(I\) is a two-sided semigroup ideal of \((S,\cdot)\) and 2) \(I\) is an order ideal of \((S,\leq)\). \(I\) is called prime if \(ab\in I\) implies that \(a\in I\) or \(b\in I\). A subsemigroup \(F\) of \((S,\cdot)\) is a filter if 1) \(F\) is semigroup filter of \((S,\cdot)\) and 2) \(F\) is an order filter of \((S,\leq)\). The first author showed [Math. Jap. 35, 1061-1063 (1990; Zbl 0717.06008)]\ that the relation: \(a N b\) iff \(N(a)= N(b)\), where \(N(a)\) denotes the filter of \((S,\cdot,\leq)\) generated by \(a\in S\), is a semilattice-congruence on \((S,\cdot,\leq)\). In the paper under review the authors prove a result on the decomposition of prime ideals of \((S,\cdot,\leq)\) into \(N\)-classes, which for semigroups can be found in the book of \textit{M. Petrich} [Introduction to semigroups (1973; Zbl 0321.20037)]. (Remark: The Theorem follows from II.2.11 of the above-mentioned book, since any ideal of \((S,\cdot,\leq)\) is a semigroup ideal of \((S,\cdot)\); the Corollary is an immediate consequence of the Theorem by the definition of an ideal).