Footnote to a paper of Baker and Mines

Abstract

Let S be a semigroup with a compact topology in which multiplication is continuous on the left (i.e. xi→x implies xiy→xy for each y in S). Then S has a minimal left ideal L which is compact; each idempotent e in L is a right identity for L (xe = xfor each x ∈ L)and L = Se; Ge = eL is a group and L is the union of all such groups; and if f is a second idempotent in L, the canonical map x ↦ fx of Ge to Gf is an algebraic isomorphism (see Ruppert(2) for these facts). Baker and Milnes(1), §4(A), have observed that, in the case in which S is the Stone–Cech compactification of a discrete abelian group, the canonical map from Ge to Gf may not be a homeomorphism. (This contrasts with the situation in compact semigroups with separately continuous multiplication.) We present a simple proof of a more definitive result.