Congruence-free inverse semigroups with zero

Abstract

A semigroup is said to be congruence-free if it has only two congruences, the identity congruence and the universal congruence. It is almost immediate that a congruence-free semigroup of order greater than two must either be simple or 0-simple. In this paper we describe the semilattices of congruence-free inverse semi-groups with zero. Further, congruence-free inverse semigroups with zero are characterized in terms of partial isomorphisms of their semilattices. A general discussion of congruence-free inverse semigroups, with and without zero, is given by Munn (to appear).