On bounded lattices satisfying Elkan's law (Q937262)

Let \(\mathcal{L}=(L,\cdot, +,0,1)\) be a bounded lattice. A unary operator \('\) satisfying the conditions \((c_{0})\) \( 0'=1\), \((P_{1})\) \( a\leq b \Rightarrow b'\leq a'\), \((P_{2})\) \(a''=a\) for all \(a,b\in L\), is called a pseudo-complementation by \textit{E. Renedo, E. Trillas} and \textit{C. Alsina} [Soft Comput. 8, No. 1, 71--73 (2003; Zbl 1075.06006)]. A bounded distributive lattice \(\mathcal{L}\) with pseudo-complementation that satisfies \((D_1)\) \( (a\cdot b)'=a'+b', (a+ b)'=a'\cdot b'\), (NC) \(a\cdot a'=0\), (EM) \(a+a'=1\), (OM) \( a\leq b \Rightarrow b=a+a'\cdot b\), is called an orthomodular lattice. Renedo et al. [loc. cit.] proved that all de Morgan algebras and orthomodular lattices with Elkan's law (EL) \((a\cdot b')'=b+a'\cdot b'\) are Boolean algebras. This result means that Boolean algebras are characterized by the class of all de Morgan algebras and of all orthomodular lattices with this equation. In 2004 they proved that every orthocomplemented lattice (a bounded lattice with pseudo-complementation that satisfies also \((c_{1})\) \( 1'=0\)) with (EL) is a Boolean algebra. In this paper, the authors present a stronger result: any bounded lattice satisfying \((c_{1})\) and (EL) is a Boolean algebra. This is a new characterization theorem for Boolean algebras in terms of bounded lattices. Finally, the authors remark (using an example) that the class of all bounded lattice with (EL) is different from the class of all Heyting algebras, in spite of the fact that any Heyting algebra with \(a=a''\), which is equivalent to \(1'=0\) under (EL), is a Boolean algebra.