Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 November 2011
The existence of a smallest inverse congruence on an orthodox semigroup is known. It is also known that a regular semigroup S is locally inverse and orthodox if and only if there exists a local isomorphism from S onto an inverse semigroup T.
In this paper, we show the existence of a smallest R-unipotent congruence ρ on an orthodox semigroup S and give its expression in the case where S is also left quasinormal. Finally, we prove that a regular semigroup S is left quasinormal and orthodox if and only if there exists a local isomorphism from S onto an R-unipotent semigroup T.