Associate inverse subsemigroups of regular semigroups. (Q731314)

Let \(S\) be a semigroup and \(A(x)=\{y\in S:x=xyx\}\) be the set of associates of \(x\). An `associate inverse subsemigroup' of a regular semigroup \(S\) is a subsemigroup \(T\) of \(S\) containing a least associate of each \(x\in S\), in relation to the natural partial order \(\leq_S\). There is described the structure of a regular semigroup with an associate inverse subsemigroup, satisfying two natural conditions, namely, (I1) \((st)^*=t^*s^*\), \(\forall s,t\in S\); (I2) \(ef^*e^*=ef^*\) and \(e^*f^*e=f^*e\), \(\forall e,f\in E(S)\). As a particular application, there is obtained the structure of regular semigroups with associate subgroup with medial identity element [see \textit{T. S. Blyth, P. Mendes Martins}, Commun. Algebra 25, No. 7, 2147-2156 (1997; Zbl 0880.20048)]. The connection of an associate inverse subsemigroup with inverse transversal of a regular semigroup is explored [see \textit{T. S. Blyth}, in Semigroups. Proceedings of the international conference, Braga, Portugal, 1999. Singapore: World Scientific. 26-43 (2000; Zbl 0984.20043)]. While in some cases inverse transversals and associate inverse subsemigroups coincide, in many important classes of regular semigroups these two concepts are not even related.