Special subgroups of regular semigroups

Abstract

Extending the notions of inverse transversal and associate subgroup, we consider a regular semigroup S with the property that there exists a subsemigroup T which contains, for each x∈S, a unique y such that both xy and yx are idempotent. Such a subsemigroup is necessarily a group which we call a special subgroup. Here we investigate regular semigroups with this property. In particular, we determine when the subset of perfect elements is a subsemigroup and describe its structure in naturally arising situations.