Orthodox semigroups and permutation matchings

Abstract

We determine when an orthodox semigroup S has a permutation that sends each member of S to one of its inverses and show that if such a permutation exists, it may be taken to be an involution. In the case of a finite orthodox semigroup the condition is an effective one involving Green's relations on the combinatorial images of the principal factors of S. We also characterise some classes of semigroups via their permutation matchings.