If $\left(E, \cdot\right)$ is a commutative semigroup of idempotents, then $\left(E,\leq\right)$ is an upper semilattice.

106 Views Asked by At

Suppose that $\left(E, \cdot\right)$ is a commutative semigroup of idempotents then the relation $\leq$ on $E$ defined by $$a\leq b \iff ab =b,$$ is a partial order on $E$. Furthermore, $\left(E,\leq\right)$ is an upper semilattice with the join of $a$ and $b$, $a\vee b$ being their product $ab$ and $ab$ is the unique least upper bound of $a$ and $b$.

I have attempted a proof but I am worried that the claim is false. It is an analogue of Proposition 1.3.2 in J.M. Howie's Fundamentals of Semigroup Theory.

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On

The claim is true. Let us see the relation you defined is a partial ordering.

Let $a,b,c \in E$.
Since $a\cdot a = a$, we have $a \leq a$, so the relation is reflexive.
If $a \leq b$ and $b\leq a$ then $a = b\cdot a = a \cdot b = b$, so it's anti-symmetric.
If $a \leq b$ and $b\leq c$, then $a \cdot c = a \cdot(b \cdot c) = (a \cdot b) \cdot c = b \cdot c = c$, so it's transitive.

If $a\leq c$ and $b \leq c$, then $c = a \cdot c = a \cdot (b\cdot c) = (a\cdot b)\cdot c$, whence $a\cdot b \leq c$, and so $a\cdot b$ is the least element above $a$ and $b$.

Another way of seeing this is that a semi-lattice is precisely an idempotent commutative semi-group, which exactly what you have.