On a Class of Lattice Ordered Inverse Semigroups

It is well known that the free group on a non-empty set can be totally ordered and, further, that each compatible latttice ordering on a free group is a total ordering. On the other hand, Saitô has shown that no non-trivial free inverse semigroup can be totally ordered. In this note we show, however, that every free inverse monoid admits compatible lattice orderings which are closely related to the total orderings on free groups.These orderings are natural in the sense that the imposed partial ordering on the idempotents coincides with the natural partial ordering. For this to happen in a lattice ordered inverse semigroup, the idempotents must form a distributive lattice. The method of construction of the lattice orderings on free inverse monoids can be applied to show that naturally lattice ordered inverse semigroups with a given distributive lattice E of idempotents can have arbitrary Green's relation structure. Analogous results hold for naturally -semilatticed inverse semigroups. In this case, there is no restriction on the semilattice E of idempotents.We also show that every compatible lattice ordering on the free monogenic inverse monoid is of the type considered here. This permits us to prove that there are precisely eight distinct compatible lattice orderings on this semigroup. They belong to two families, each of which contains four members, of conjuguate lattice orderings.