Characterizations of Morita equivalent inverse semigroups

We prove that four different notions of Morita equivalence for inverse semigroups motivated by C^∗-algebra theory, topos theory, semigroup theory and the theory of ordered groupoids are equivalent. We also show that the category of unitary actions of an inverse semigroup is monadic over the category of étale actions. Consequently, the category of unitary actions of an inverse semigroup is equivalent to the category of presheaves on its Cauchy completion. More generally, we prove that the same is true for the category of closed actions, which is used to define the Morita theory in semigroup theory, of any semigroup with right local units.     

Cocomplete toposes whose exact completions are toposes

Let E be a cocomplete topos. We show that if the exact completion of E is a topos then every indecomposable object in E is an atom. As a corollary we characterize the locally connected Grothendieck toposes whose exact completions are toposes. This result strengthens both the Lawvere-Schanuel characterization of Boolean presheaf toposes and Hofstra’s characterization of the locally connected Grothendieck toposes whose exact completion is a Grothendieck topos.We also show that for any topological space X, the exact completion of is a topos if and only if X is discrete. The corollary in this case characterizes the Grothendieck toposes with enough points whose exact completions are toposes.     

A characterization theorem for geometric logic

We establish a criterion for deciding whether a class of structures is the class of models of a geometric theory inside Grothendieck toposes; then we specialize this result to obtain a characterization of the infinitary first-order theories which are geometric in terms of their models in Grothendieck toposes, solving a problem posed by Ieke Moerdijk in 1989.     

Pseudogroups and their étale groupoids

A pseudogroup is a complete infinitely distributive inverse monoid. Such inverse monoids bear the same relationship to classical pseudogroups of transformations as frames do to topological spaces. The goal of this paper is to develop the theory of pseudogroups motivated by applications to group theory, C^∗$C^{\ast }$-algebras and aperiodic tilings. Our starting point is an adjunction between a category of pseudogroups and a category of étale groupoids from which we are able to set up a duality between spatial pseudogroups and sober étale groupoids. As a corollary to this duality, we deduce a non-commutative version of Stone duality involving what we call boolean inverse semigroups and boolean étale groupoids, as well as a generalization of this duality to distributive inverse semigroups. Non-commutative Stone duality has important applications in the theory of C^∗$C^{\ast }$-algebras: it is the basis for the construction of Cuntz and Cuntz–Krieger algebras and in the case of the Cuntz algebras it can also be used to construct the Thompson groups. We then define coverages on inverse semigroups and the resulting presentations of pseudogroups. As applications, we show that Paterson’s universal groupoid is an example of a booleanization, and reconcile Exel’s recent work on the theory of tight maps with the work of the second author.     

A groupoid approach to discrete inverse semigroup algebras

Let K be a commutative ring with unit and S an inverse semigroup. We show that the semigroup algebra KS can be described as a convolution algebra of functions on the universal étale groupoid associated to S by Paterson. This result is a simultaneous generalization of the author's earlier work on finite inverse semigroups and Paterson's theorem for the universal C^∗-algebra. It provides a convenient topological framework for understanding the structure of KS, including the center and when it has a unit. In this theory, the role of Gelfand duality is replaced by Stone duality.Using this approach we construct the finite dimensional irreducible representations of an inverse semigroup over an arbitrary field as induced representations from associated groups, generalizing the case of an inverse semigroup with finitely many idempotents. More generally, we describe the irreducible representations of an inverse semigroup S that can be induced from associated groups as precisely those satisfying a certain “finiteness condition.” This “finiteness condition” is satisfied, for instance, by all representations of an inverse semigroup whose image contains a primitive idempotent.     

Levels in the toposes of simplicial sets and cubical sets

The essential subtoposes of a fixed topos form a complete lattice, which gives rise to the notion of a level in a topos. In the familiar example of simplicial sets, levels coincide with dimensions and give rise to the usual notions of n-skeletal and n-coskeletal simplicial sets. In addition to the obvious ordering, the levels provide a stricter means of comparing the complexity of objects, which is determined by the answer to the following question posed by Bill Lawvere: when does n-skeletal imply k-coskeletal? This paper, which subsumes earlier unpublished work of some of the authors, answers this question for several toposes of interest to homotopy theory and higher category theory: simplicial sets, cubical sets, and reflexive globular sets. For the latter, n-skeletal implies (n+1)-coskeletal but for the other two examples the situation is considerably more complicated: n-skeletal implies (2n−1)-coskeletal for simplicial sets and 2n-coskeletal for cubical sets, but nothing stronger. In a discussion of further applications, we prove that n-skeletal cyclic sets are necessarily (2n+1)-coskeletal.     

The Universal Covering of an Inverse Semigroup

We examine an inverse semigroup T in terms of the universal locally constant covering of its classifying topos . In particular, we prove that the fundamental group of coincides with the maximum group image of T. We explain the connection between E-unitary inverse semigroups and locally decidable toposes, characterize E-unitary inverse semigroups in terms of a kind of geometric morphism called a spread, characterize F-inverse semigroups, and interpret McAlister’s “P-theorem” in terms of the universal covering.     

Étale groupoids and their quantales

We establish close and previously unknown relations between quantales and groupoids. In particular, to each étale groupoid, either localic or topological, there is associated a unital involutive quantale. We obtain a bijective correspondence between localic étale groupoids and their quantales, which are given a rather simple characterization and here are called inverse quantal frames. We show that the category of inverse quantal frames is equivalent to the category of complete and infinitely distributive inverse monoids, and as a consequence we obtain a (non-functorial) correspondence between these and localic étale groupoids that generalizes more classical results concerning inverse semigroups and topological étale groupoids. This generalization is entirely algebraic and it is valid in an arbitrary topos. As a consequence of these results we see that a localic groupoid is étale if and only if its sublocale of units is open and its multiplication map is semiopen, and an analogue of this holds for topological groupoids. In practice we are provided with new tools for constructing localic and topological étale groupoids, as well as inverse semigroups, for instance via presentations of quantales by generators and relations. The characterization of inverse quantal frames is to a large extent based on a new quantale operation, here called a support, whose properties are thoroughly investigated, and which may be of independent interest.     

A characterization of the left exact categories whose exact completions are toposes

We characterize the categories with finite limits whose exact completions are toposes and discuss some examples and counter-examples.     

The category of 3-computads is not cartesian closed

We show, using [A. Carboni, P.T. Johnstone, Connected limits, familial representability and Artin glueing, Math. Structures Comput. Sci. 5 (1995) 441-459] and Eckmann-Hilton argument, that the category of 3-computads is not cartesian closed. As a corollary we get that neither the category of all computads nor the category of n-computads, for n>2, do form locally cartesian closed categories, and hence elementary toposes.     

Quantales and their sheaves

A quantale is a complete lattice provided with a binary multiplication which, in particular, distributes over in each variable. First we study the quantales, their morphisms, their points and the relations with the theory of locales: the case where the multiplication is just the meet. We describe the presheaves and sheaves on a quantale and exhibit a link between the corresponding toposes and quantum logic.Research supported by NATO grant 476/84.     

Inverse semigroups determined by their lattices of convex inverse subsemigroups I

Every inverse semigroup possesses a natural partial order and therefore convexity with respect to this order is of interest. We study the extent to which an inverse semigroup is determined by its lattice of convex inverse subsemigroups; that is, if the lattices of two inverse semigroups are isomorphic, how are the semigroups related? We solve this problem completely for semilattices and for inverse semigroups in general reduce it to the case where the lattice isomorphism induces an isomorphism between the semilattices of idempotents of the semigroups. For many inverse semigroups, such as the monogenic ones, this case is the only one that can occur. In Part II, a study of the reduced case enables us to prove that many inverse semigroups, such as the free ones, are strictly determined by their lattices of convex inverse subsemigroups, and to show that the answer obtained here for semilattices can be extended to a broad class of inverse semigroups, including all finite, aperiodic ones. Received September 24, 2002; accepted in final form December 15, 2002.     

Domain theory and mirror properties in inverse semigroups

Inverse semigroups are a class of semigroups whose structure induces a compatible partial order. This partial order is examined so as to establish mirror properties between an inverse semigroup and the semilattice of its idempotent elements, such as continuity in the sense of domain theory.     

Free orthodox semigroups and free bands with inverse transversals

It is well known that the subclass of inverse semigroups and the subclass of completely regular semigroups of the class of regular semigroups form the so called e-varieties of semigroups. However, the class of regular semigroups with inverse transversals does not belong to this variety. We now call this class of semigroups the ist-variety of semigroups, and denote it by IST. In this paper, we consider the class of orthodox semigroups with inverse transversals, which is a special ist-variety and is denoted by OIST. Some previous results given by Tang and Wang on this topic are extended. In particular, the structure of free bands with inverse transversals is investigated. Results of McAlister, McFadden, Blyth and Saito on semigroups with inverse transversals are hence generalized and enriched.     

The structure of 0-bisimple R-unipotent semigroups

We generalize theory of Lawson for 0 -bisimple inverse monoids to wider classes of 0 -bisimple regular semigroups. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for a 0 -bisimple R-unipotent semigroup to admit a 0-restricted idempotent-pure prehomomorphism to a primitive inverse semigroup. Several illustrations of the theory are obtained as an application of the results in this paper.     

Algebras of Ehresmann semigroups and categories

E-Ehresmann semigroups are a commonly studied generalization of inverse semigroups. They are closely related to Ehresmann categories in the same way that inverse semigroups are related to inductive groupoids. We prove that under some finiteness condition, the semigroup algebra of an E-Ehresmann semigroup is isomorphic to the category algebra of the corresponding Ehresmann category. This generalizes a result of Steinberg who proved this isomorphism for inverse semigroups and inductive groupoids and a result of Guo and Chen who proved it for ample semigroups. We also characterize E-Ehresmann semigroups whose corresponding Ehresmann category is an EI-category and give some natural examples.     

Fibrations and partial products in a 2-category

We introduce a new intrinsic definition of fibrations in a 2-category, and show how it may be used (in conjunction with a suitable limit-colimit commutation condition) to define a 2-categorical version of the notion of partial product. We use these notions to show that partial products exist for all fibrations in the 2-category of (small) categories, and to identify the fibrations in the 2-category of toposes and geometric morphisms.     

Morita equivalence of inverse semigroups

We describe how to construct all inverse semigroups Morita equivalent to a given inverse semigroup S. This is done by taking the maximum inverse images of the regular Rees matrix semigroups over S where the sandwich matrix satisfies what we call the McAlister conditions.