Orthodox ordered semigroups (Q7310663)

A (generalized) idempotent of an ordered semigroup \(S\) is an element \(e\in S\) such that \(e\le e^2\) (respectively, such that \(e\) and \(e^2\) belong to the same class of the congruence on \(S\) generated by \(\le\)). The author calls an ordered semigroup \(S\) orthodox if \(S\) contains an idempotent and the product of any two idempotents of \(S\) is a generalized idempotent. An inverse of an element \(a\) of an ordered semigroup is an element \(b\) such that \(aba\le a\) and \(bab\le b\). An ordered semigroup \(S\) is regular if every element of \(S\) has an inverse. The author proves that a regular ordered semigroup \(S\) is orthodox if and only if every inverse of every idempotent in \(S\) is a generalized idempotent (Theorem 3.1). This result is analogous to a lemma by \textit{N. R. Reilly} and \textit{H. E. Scheiblich} [Pac. J. Math. 23, 349--360 (1967; Zbl 0159.02503)] and reduces to that lemma when the order relation \(\le\) is equality.