Fundamentals of Semigroup Theory John M. Howie Regius Professor of Mathematics University of St Andrews CLARENDON PRESS - OXFORDLONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY MONOGRAPHS NEW SERIES Series Editors H.G. Dales P.M. NeumannLONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY MONOGRAPHS EW SERIES Previous volumes of the LMS Monographs were published by Academic Press, to whom alll enquiries should be addressed. Volumes in the New Series will be published by Oxford University Press throughout the world. NEW SERIES 1. Diophantine inequalities R. C. Baker 2. The Schur multiplier Gregory Karpilovsky 3. Existentially closed groups Graham Higman and Elizabeth Scott 4. The asymptotic solution of linear diffential systems M. S. P. Eastham 5. The restricted Burnside problem Michael Vaughan-Lee 6. Pluripotential theory Maciej Klimek 7. Free Lie algebras Christophe Reutenauer 8. The restricted Burnside problem (2nd edition) Michael Vaughan-Lee 9. The geometry of topological stability Andrew du Plessis and Terry Wall 10. Spectral decompositions and analytic sheaves J. Eschmeier and M. Putinar 11. An atlas of Brauer characters Christoph Jansen, Klaus Lux, Richard Parker, and Robert Wilson 12. Fundamentals of semigroup theory John M. Howie‘This book has been printed digitally and produced in a standard specification in order to ensure its continuing availability OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dares Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Sdo Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © JM. Howie 1995 ‘The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) Reprinted 2003 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored ina retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, oras expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer ISBN 0-19-851194-9In memory of Alfred Hoblitzelle Clifford (11 July, 1908 - 27 December, 1992)Preface Since the publication in 1976 of my earlier monograph, An Introduction to Semigroup Theory, much has happened in the theory of semigroups, too much, indeed, for a general introduction to do more then scrape the surface of the subject, for its scope has widened remarkably to embrace many aspects of theoretical computer science. In response to the growth of the subject in both pure and applied aspects, many more specialist books have appeared (Eilenberg 1974, 1976; Lallement 1979; Nambooripad 1979; Lothaire 1983; Berstel and Perrin 1985; Petrich 1984; Pastijn and Petrich 1985; Oknitiski 1990; Jiirgensen et al. 1991; Pin 1986; Shyr 1991; Higgins 1992; Almeida 1995), and the list of Conference Proceedings volumes on my shelves (T. E. Hall et al. 1980; Jirgensen et al, 1981; Byleen et al. 1984; Hofmann et al. 1983; Polldk et al, 1985; Almeida et al. 1990; T. E. Hall et al. 1991; Rhodes 1991; Howie et al. 1992; Shum and Yuen 1993; Bonzini et al. 1993) is certainly not exhaustive. There is, however, still a place for a general introduction, offering both an overview of the subject for specialist and non-specialist alike, and an entrée for the graduate student. This is what I have set out to provide. I have used my earlier volume as a basis, and have been gratified to find that most of the material there still earns its place in a general introduction to the subject. Most of that, however, has been substantially rewritten to pro- vide the perspective that seems most relevant to contemporary research, and significant amounts of new (post 1976) material have been incorpo- rated, especially in the exercises. ‘The emphasis throughout is unashamedly on what might be called ‘pure’ semigroup theory; the inclusion of significant amounts of applica- tions, for example, to automata, languages and machines, would have in- volved a huge, and probably unacceptable, increase in the length (and the price) of the book. The only mild genuflection in the direction of applied semigroup theory occurs in Chapter 7, where the brief section on variable length codes gives some hint of a fascinating and continually developing field. The first six chapters give what I hope is a reasonably coherent account of regular semigroups of various kinds. Chapters 1 and 2 develop the fun- damental language and concepts of the subject, and on those foundations is then built a fairly natural edifice, consisting of completely (0-)simple semigroups (Chapter 3), completely regular semigroups (Chapter 4), and inverse semigroups (Chapter 5). The huge success of inverse semigroupviii Preface theory has naturally given rise to a great deal of work (of varying degrees of interest, it must be said) on generalizations. In Chapter 6, somewhat lamely entitled ‘Other classes of regular semigroups’, I give a very brief account of some of the more interesting types of non-inverse regular semi- groups. Chapter 7, already mentioned above, heralds a change of theme. It give a brief account of free semigroups and monoids and of variable length codes, an account which is certainly superficial, but which may whet readers’ appetites and lead them to the excellent specialized texts now available. The use of module theory and homological algebra in the study of rings is well known. One of the most encouraging developments of the last two decades has been the use of what one might call ‘non-additive’ homological algebra in the study of semigroups. A notable success in this area has been in the study of semigroup amalgams, and these are the subject of the final chapter. The layout of the book is entirely traditional, and the system of ref erencing is, I hope, self-explanatory. I attempt to guide the reader by making a distinction between theorems and propositions, the former term being reserved for results of greater depth or importance. ‘The distinction is, however, merely a guide, and should not be taken too seriously. A few more specialized sections in the earlier chapters have been starred to indicate that they may safely be omitted in a first reading. It is a pleasure to record thanks to the University of St Andrews for a period of research leave during which a significant part of this book was written, and to the university of Tasmania for taking me in during part of that leave. Thanks are due to T. E. Hall, P. G. Trotter and James Ren- shaw, who read and commented on parts of the book, and especially to Nikola Rukuc, whose careful reading and frank comments were of enor- mous service. ‘The first tentative steps towards the writing of this book had just been taken when I learned of the death of A. H. Clifford. At an early stage of my mathematical career, in 1964-65, I spent a year with Alfred Clifford at ‘Tulane University, and was much influenced by his penetrating mind and infectious enthusiasm. This book is dedicated, with deep respect, to his memory. University of St Andrews JMB. February 1995Contents 1 Introductory ideas 1.1 Basic definitions 1.2 Monogenic semigroups 1.3 Ordered sets, semilattices and lattices Binary relations; equivalences Congruences Free semigroups and monoids; presentations Ideals and Rees congruences Lattices of equivalences and congruences* Exercises 0 Notes bewuone 2 Green’s equivalences; regular semigroups 2.1 Green’s equivalences 2.2 The structure of D-classes 2.3 Regular D-classes 2.4 Regular semigroups 2.5 The sandwich set 2.6 Exercises 2.7 Notes 3 0-simple semigroups 3.1 Simple and 0-simple semigroups; principal factors 3.2 The Rees Theorem 3.3. Completely simple semigroups 3.4 Isomorphism and normalization 3.5 Congruences on completely 0-simple semigroups* 3.6 The lattice of congruences on a completely 0-simple semigroup 3.7 Finite congruence-free semigroups* 3.8 Exercises 3.9 Notes 4 Completely regular semigroups 4.1 The Clifford decomposition 4.2 Clifford semigroups 4.3 Varieties 4.4 Bands 4.5 Free bands 4.6 Varieties of bands* 13 16 22 29 33, 37 44 45, 45 48 50 54 58 64 66 66 69 oo 80 83 91 93 101 102 103 107 108 113 oe 124on 4.7 Exercises 4.8 Notes Inverse semigroups 5.1 Preliminaries 5.2 The natural order relation 5.3 Congruences on inverse semigroups 5.4 The Munn semigroup 5.5 Anti-uniform semilattices 5.6 Bisimple inverse semigroups 5.7 Simple inverse semigroups 5.8 Representations of inverse semigroups 5.9 E-unitary inverse semigroups 5.10 Free inverse monoids 5.11 Exercises kee Other classes of regular semigroups 6.1 Locally inverse semigroups 6.2 Orthodox semigroups 6.3 Semibands 6.4 Exercises 6.5 Notes Free semigroups 7.1 Properties of free semigroups 7.2 Codes 7.3 Exercises 7.4 Notes Semigroup amalgams 8.1 Systems 8.2 Free products 8.3 Dominions and zigzags 8.4 Direct limits, free extensions and free products 8.5 The extension property 8.6 Inverse semigroups and amalgamation 8.7 Exercises 88 Notes References List of symbols Index Contents 138 142 144 145 152 154 162 166 169 176 185 192 200 2u 219 ae 223 226 230 235 237 238 238 243 248 250 251 252 258 266 274 288 303 310 315 318 3411 Introductory ideas In this chapter certain basic definitions and results are presented. Reference will be made to these throughout the book, though it should be noted that Section 1.8 is referred to only in Section 3.5. 1.1 BASIC DEFINITIONS ‘A groupoid (S, 1) is defined as a non-empty set $ on which a binary opera- tion 4—by which we mean a map p.: S x S > S— is defined. We say that (S, 2) is a semigroup if the operation 1 is associative, that is to say, if, for all x, y and z in 8, (ey) 2)u = («,(yz)u)e (1.1.1) (Here, and throughout the book, we write mapping symbols on the right.) This notation is rather cumbersome, and we shall follow the usual algebraic practice of writing the binary operation as multiplication. Thus (x,y) becomes x.y or (more usually) ey, and formula (1.1.1) takes the simple form (ay)z = xyz), the familiar associative law of elementary algebra. Expressions such as yz and 2122...0m, where 2,Y,2,1,22,..-,2, are elements of S, then have unambiguous meanings, and we can use the notation 2” (n € N) to mean the product of n elements each equal to x. The cardinal number |S|-—see Halmos (1960) for this and other items of basic set theory—will be called the order of S. Where the semigroup is written multiplicatively and where the nature of the multiplication is clear from the context, we shall write simply S rather than (S,.). If a semigroup S has the property that, for all «, y in S, wy = yr,2 Introductory ideas we shall say that S is a commutative semigroup. (The term abelian is also used, by analogy with the group theoretic term.) If a semigroup S contains an element 1 with the property that, for all « in S, 1 sl=le=2, we say that 1 is an identity element (or just an identity) of S, and that S is a semigroup with identity or (more usually) a monoid. A semigroup S has at most one identity element, since if 1’ also has the property that Vz =a for all z in S, then V=11' (since 1 is an identity) =1 (since 1/ is an identity) If S has no identity element then it is very easy to adjoin an extra clement 1 to S to form a monoid. We define 1s=sl=sforallsinS, andl1=1 and it is a routine matter to check that S$ U {1} becomes a monoid. We now define ae {5 if S has an identity element | SU {1} otherwise. We refer to 5? as the monoid obtained from S by adjoining an identity if necessary. Ifa semigroup $ with at least two elements contains an element 0 such that, for all x in S, Ox = 20 = 0, we say that 0 is a zero element (or just a zero) of S, and that S is a semigroup with zero. As with identity elements, it is a trivial matter to verify that there can be at most one such element in a semigroup. The proviso that S should have at least two elements means merely that we shall not want to refer to the single element of the trivial semigroup {e} (in which e? = e) as a zero. (It is an identity!) Again, if S has no zero it is easy to adjoin an extra element 0. We define Os 80 = 00 = 0 for all s in S, and it is a routine matter to check that associativity survives in the ex- tended set SU {0}. By analogy with the case of S', we define oe ie if S has a zero element ~ | SU {0} otherwise. and refer to S° as the semigroup obtained from S by adjoining a zero if necessary. Despite the great ease with which we can adjoin an identity and a zero to a semigroup, we cannot altogether reduce the study of semigroups toBasic definitions 3 the study of monoids with zero, for in adjoining the extra elements we may sacrifice some crucial property of the semigroup. To take a very trivial example, if we adjoin a zero element to a semigroup which is a group, we obtain a semigroup which is not a group. Among semigroups with zero we find the very trivial null semigroups, in which the product of any two elements is zero. Only slightly less trivially, on any non-empty set 3 we can define a multiplication ab=a (a,b€S), and obtain what is called a left zero semigroup. Right zero semigroups are defined in an analogous way. Another easy example arises if on the closed interval I = [0,1] we define zy =min(z,y) (x,y € 1). Associativity is clear, and it is easy to see that 0 is a zero clement and 1 is an identity. Many other examples will emerge as we proceed. If A and B are subsets of a semigroup S, then we write AB to mean {ab:a€ A, b € B). It is easy to verify that, for all subsets A, B, C of S, (AB)C = A(BC); hence once again notations such as ABC and Ay Ay... A, are meaningful. The usual hazard, namely that A? means {ajay : a1,a2 € A} rather than {a? : a € A}, should be noted. When dealing with singleton sets we shall use the notational simplifications that are customary in algebra, writing (for example) Ab rather than A{b}. If a is an element of a semigroup S without identity then Sa need not contain a. ‘The following notations will be standard: Sla = Sav {a}, aS! = aS U {a}, (1.1.2) StaS} = SaS U SaUaS U {a}. Notice that Sta, aS! and SaS1 are all subsets of S—they do not contain the element 1. If a semigroup S has the property that (Va € S) aS = Sand Sa=S (1.1.3) we call it a group. This is not the commonest definition of a group, but it is an easy exercise to show that it is equivalent to the more usual definition of a group as a semigroup for which (de € S) (Va € S) Feat (VaeS)(Ja-1€ 9) a-laxe. (4.4)4 Introductory ideas The definition (1.1.3) is given first because it is the one that seems to occur most often in semigroup theory. It is clearly equivalent to (Va,b € S) (Ax,y € S) ax = band ya =b. (1.1.5) If G is a group, then G° = GU {0} is a semigroup. We shall call a semigroup formed in this way a 0-group, or group-with-zero. Proposition 1.1.1 A semigroup with zero is a 0-group if and only if (Va € S\ {0}) aS = § and Sa = 8. Proof Suppose first that S = G®, a 0-group, and let a ¢ G = $ \ {0}. Certainly aG = Ga = G. Since aS = aGU {0} and Sa = Gat {0}, it follows that aS = Sa = S. Conversely, suppose that $' has the given property, and let G = $\ {0}. Since S by implication has more than two elements we have G # 0. To show that G is a group we must first show that it is closed with respect to multiplication. So suppose, by way of contradiction, that there exist a, b in G such that ab = 0. Then ‘S? = (Sa)(bS) = S(ab)S = SOS = {0}, and so S = aS C S? = {0}. This is a contradiction, and so G has the desired closure property. The assumed property implies that for all a, b in G there exist «, y in $ such that az = b and ya = b. The elements x and y cannot be zero and so are in G. Thus G satisfies (1.1.5) and so is a group. a A non-empty subset T of a semigroup $ is called a subsemigroup if it is closed with respect to multiplication, that is, if (Va,yeT) syeT (1.1.6) —-a condition that can be expressed more compactly as 7? C T. ‘The associativity condition that holds throughout S certainly holds throughout 1, and so T is itself a semigroup. Among special subsemigroups worth mentioning are $ itself, {0} and {1} where appropriate, and also more generally {e}, where e is any element of S that is idempotent, that is to say, for which e? = e. A subsemigroup of S which is a group with respect to the multipli- cation inherited from S will be called a subgroup of S; the one-element subsemigroups {0}, {1} and {e} mentioned in the last paragraph are all trivial examples. It is not hard to see that a non-empty subset T of $ is a subgroup of $ if and only if (Vae 1) al =T and Ta=T. (1.1.7) A non-empty subset A of $ is called a left ideal if SA C A, a right ideal if AS C A, and a (two-sided) ideal if it is both a left and a right ideal. Evidently every ideal (whether right, left or two-sided) is a subsemigroup,