An elegant 3-basis for inverse semigroups

Abstract

It is well known that in every inverse semigroup the binary operation and the unary operation of inversion satisfy the following three identities: [\quad x=(xx')x \qquad \quad (xx')(y'y)=(y'y)(xx') \qquad \quad (xy)z=x(yz"). ] The goal of this note is to prove the converse, that is, we prove that an algebra of type $<2,1>$ satisfying these three identities is an inverse semigroup and the unary operation coincides with the usual inversion on such semigroups.

4 pages; v.2: fixed abstract; v.3: final version with minor changes suggested by referee, to appear in Semigroup Forum