On groups generated by involutions of a semigroup

Abstract

An involution on a semigroup S (or any algebra with an underlying associative binary operation) is a function f:S->S that satisfies f(xy)=f(y)f(x) and f(f(x))=x for all x,y in S. The set I(S) of all such involutions on S generates a subgroup C(S)=<I(S)> of the symmetric group Sym(S) on the set S. We investigate the groups C(S) for certain classes of semigroups S, and also consider the question of which groups are isomorphic to C(S) for a suitable semigroup S.