Almost factorizable orthodox semigroups. (Q877749)

\textit{D. B. McAlister} [J. Aust. Math. Soc., Ser. A 22, 188-211 (1976; Zbl 0365.20066)] and later \textit{M. V. Lawson} [Semigroup Forum 47, No. 1, 7-14 (1993; Zbl 0784.20033), Glasg. Math. J. 36, No. 1, 97-111 (1994; Zbl 0820.20070)] considered the classes of factorizable inverse monoids and of almost factorizable inverse semigroups, which are, in both cases, [idempotent separating] homomorphic images of semidirect products \(Y*G\) of semilattices \(Y\) by groups \(G\). These algebras relate as follows: any almost factorizable inverse semigroup can be obtained (up to an isomorphism) from a factorizable inverse monoid by removing its group of units. An inverse monoid \(M\) is factorizable if it is the product \(E(M)\mathcal U(M)\) of its semilattice of idempotents \(E(M)\) by its group of units \(\mathcal U(M)\). The definition of an almost factorizable inverse semigroup is much more complicated and it may be given, equivalently, by means of the associated monoid \(C(S)\) of compatible subsets or by means of its translation hull \(\Omega(S)\) [\textit{M. Petrich}, Inverse semigroups. New York: John Wiley \& Sons (1984; Zbl 0546.20053)]. The idempotents of a semidirect product \(B*G\) of a band \(B\) by a group \(G\) form a band, isomorphic to \(B\), and \(B*G\) is regular so it is orthodox. It is natural to ask which orthodox semigroups are a homomorphic image of a semidirect product \(B*G\). Factorizable orthodox monoids are defined as in the inverse case and their behaviour is also analogous. However, when one moves into the wider world of semigroups we can find orthodox semigroups that are a homomorphic image of a semidirect product of a band by a group but are not an idempotent separating homomorphic image of such kind of semidirect product (an example is provided in Proposition 7), the first are called weakly coverable and the second turn out to be exactly the almost factorizable orthodox semigroups (Theorem 5) defined as follows. Let \(S\) be an orthodox semigroup. Consider its translation hull \(\Omega(S)\), which is a monoid with group of units \(\Sigma(S)\). The semigroup \(S\) is said to be almost factorizable if for any \(s\in S\) there exists \(e\in E(S)\) and \((\lambda,\rho)\in\Sigma(S)\) such that \(s=e\rho\). Notice that this definition is self-dual. For orthodox monoids the concepts of factorizable, almost factorizable and weakly coverable coincide (Theorem 2) and almost factorizable orthodox semigroups can be obtained from factorizable orthodox monoids \(M\) by removing \(\mathcal U(M)\) (Theorem 6). Given an orthodox semigroup \(S\), its greatest inverse semigroup homomorphic image \(S/\gamma\) is well known and one can ask how the notions of factorizability in \(S\) and in \(S/\gamma\) relate. Clearly, in the monoid case, we have \(S\) factorizable if and only if \(S/\gamma\) is factorizable. In the semigroup case the situation differs. When \(S\) is generalized inverse, i.e., \(E(S)\) is a normal band, almost factorizability in \(S\) is also equivalent to almost factorizability in \(S/\gamma\) (Theorem 11), however for an arbitrary orthodox semigroup \(S\) we have that \(S\) weakly coverable implies \(S/\gamma\) almost factorizable but the converse may be false (Proposition 13). The paper concludes with a structure theorem for weakly coverable orthodox semigroups \(S\) that makes use of a group \(G\) that maps onto a subgroup of \(\Sigma(S/\gamma)\) and a graph \(\mathcal G\), with vertices \(B=E(S)\) and edges contained in \(B\times G\times B\) (Theorem 15).