Graph-Theoretic Characterization of Quasi-Nilpotent Elements in Finite Semigroups of Full Order-Preserving Transformations

Abstract

This paper investigates the structural behavior of quasi-nilpotent elements within the semigroup On of all full order-preserving transformations on a finite chain Xn = {1, 2, . . ., n}. While quasi-nilpotency has been extensively studied in full and partial transformation semigroups, its characterization in On remains largely unexplored. By employing a graph-theoretic approach, we associate to each transformation α ∈ On a digraph Γ(α) and establish necessary and sufficient conditions under which α is quasi-nilpotent. Specifically, we show that α is quasi-nilpotent if and only if Γ(α) has a unique sink and all vertices are connected to it via directed paths. This char- acterization is further refined by relating the height of Γ(α) to the number of convex blocks in the domain partition of α. Illustrative examples and explicit constructions are provided to validate the theoretical findings. The results offer new insights into the interplay between algebraic properties of transformation semigroups and their combi- natorial representations.