Partial Orders on Transformation Semigroups

In 1986, Kowol and Mitsch studied properties of the so-called natural partial order on T(X), the total transformation semigroup defined on a set X. In particular, they determined when two total transformations are related under this order, and they described the minimal and maximal elements of (T(X), ). In this paper, we extend that work to the semigroup P(X) of all partial transformations of X, compare with another natural partial order on P(X), characterise the meet and join of these two orders, and determine the minimal and maximal elements of P(X) with respect to each order.This author gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Centro de Matematica, Universidade do Minho, Portugal during his visit in May–June 2001.Received May 27, 2002; in revised form November 27, 2002Published online May 16, 2003