The inverse hull of 0-left cancellative semigroups

Abstract

Given a semigroup S with zero, which is left-cancellative in the sense that st=sr \neq 0 implies that t=r, we construct an inverse semigroup called the inverse hull of S, denoted H(S). When S admits least common multiples, in a precise sense defined below, we study the idempotent semilattice of H(S), with a focus on its spectrum. When S arises as the language semigroup for a subsift X on a finite alphabet, we discuss the relationship between H(S) and several C*-algebras associated to X appearing in the literature.