Completely simple semigroups: free products, free semigroups and varieties

SynopsisThe class CS of completely simple semigroups forms a variety under the operations of multiplication and inversion (x−1 being the inverse of x in its ℋ-class). We determine a Rees matrix representation of the CS-free product of an arbitrary family of completely simple semigroups and deduce a description of the free completely simple semigroups, whose existence was proved by McAlister in 1968 and whose structure was first given by Clifford in 1979. From this a description of the lattice of varieties of completely simple semigroups is given in terms of certain subgroups of a free group of countable rank. Whilst not providing a “list” of identities on completely simple semigroups it does enable us to deduce, for instance, the description of all varieties of completely simple semigroups with abelian subgroups given by Rasin in 1979. It also enables us to describe the maximal subgroups of the “free” idempotent-generated completely simple semigroups T(α, β) denned by Eberhart et al. in 1973 and to show in general the maximal subgroups of the “V-free” semigroups of this type (which we define) need not be free in any variety of groups.