Why mathematical morphology needs complete lattices (Q811477)

If \(L\) is a complete lattice, then \(d: L\to L\) is a dilatation (erosion) operator, if for any \(S\subseteq L\) \[ d(\sup S)=\sup_{X\in S}d(X)\qquad (d(\inf S)=\inf_{X\in S}d(X)). \] This is a generalization of the case that \(L\) is a power set of \(\mathbb Z^ d\). It is shown, that this generalization is necessary for a mathematically coherent application of morphological operators to grey-level images.