A bounded distributive lattice $L$ is called a De Morgan algebra if there exists a unary operator $\sim:L\to L$ such that

1. $\sim(\sim a)=a$ and
2. $\sim(a\vee b)=(\sim a )\wedge (\sim b)$

From the definition, we have the following properties:

• $\sim$ is a bijection, since for any $a\in L$ $a=\sim (\sim a)$
• $\sim(a\wedge b)=\sim [(\sim (\sim a ))\wedge (\sim (\sim b))]= \sim [\sim ((\sim a)\vee (\sim b)) ]=(\sim a)\vee (\sim b)$ which is the dual statement of (2) above. This, together with condition (2), are commonly known as the De Morgan's laws.
• $\sim 0 =\ \sim (0 \wedge (\sim a))=(\sim 0) \vee a$ for all $a\in L$ so $\sim 0 = 1$ Dually, $\sim 1=0$ As a result, a De Morgan algebra is an Ockham algebra.
• $a \le b$ iff $b=a \vee b$ iff $\sim b=\ \sim(a\vee b)=(\sim a)\wedge (\sim b)$ iff $\sim b \le\ \sim a$
• A Boolean algebra is always a De Morgan algebra, where the $\sim$ is the complementation operator $'$ The converse is not true. In general, $\sim a$ is not a complement of $a$ (that is, $(\sim a)\wedge a \ne 0$ and $(\sim a)\vee a\ne 1$ . Otherwise, $L$ is a complemented lattice and consequently a Boolean algebra.

Furthermore, a Kleene algebra is, by definition, a De Morgan algebra. But the converse is false. For example, consider $L=\mathbf{n}\times \mathbf{n}$ where $\mathbf{n}=\lbrace 0,1,\ldots,n\rbrace$ is a chain with the usual ordering. Define $\sim$ on $L$ by $\sim(a,b)=(n-b,n-a)$ Then $\sim^2(a,b)=(a,b)$ The De Morgan's laws follow from the identity $n-(a\vee b)=(n-a)\wedge (n-b)$ applied to each of the two components. But $L$ is not Kleene in general. Take $n=3$ then $\sim (1,2)=(1,2)$ and $\sim (2,1)=(2,1)$ But $(1,2)=\sim (1,2)\wedge (1,2)$ and $(2,1)=\sim (2,1)\vee (2,1)$ are not comparable.

Next, for any $a,b\in L$ define $a-b:=a\wedge (\sim b)$ Then $-$ is a binary operator. It has the following properties:

• $a-0 = a\wedge (\sim 0)=a\wedge 1 =a$
• $0-a = 0\wedge (\sim a)=0$
• $a-1 = a\wedge (\sim 1)=a\wedge 0=0$
• $1-a = 1\wedge (\sim a)=\ \sim a$
• $(a-b)-c=(a\wedge (\sim b))\wedge (\sim c)=a\wedge (\sim (b\vee c))=a-(b\vee c)$

Finally, we define for $a,b\in L$ $a+b=(a-b)\vee (b-a)$ This is again a binary operator, with the following properties:

• $a+b=b+a$ This is obvious by the symmetry in the definition of $+$
• $a+0=a$ We have $a+0=(a-0)\vee (0-a)=a\vee 0=a$
• $a+1=\ \sim a$ since $a+1=(a-1)\vee (1-a)=0\vee (\sim a)=\ \sim a$ In particular $1+1=0$
• $a+a=(a-a)\vee(a-a)=a-a=a\wedge (\sim a)$ If we define $2a:=a+a$ then $a+2a=(a-2a)\vee (2a-a)=(a\wedge (a\vee (\sim a))\vee ((a\wedge (\sim a)\wedge (\sim a))=a\vee ((a\wedge (\sim a))=a$
• More generally, we have \begin{eqnarray*} a+(a+b) &=& (a-(a+b))\vee ((a+b)-a) \\ &=&(a-((a-b)\vee(b-a)))\vee (((a-b)\vee(b-a))-a) \\ &=&(a\wedge (\sim a\vee b)\wedge (\sim b\vee a))\vee (((\sim b \wedge a)\vee (\sim a\wedge b))\wedge (\sim a)) \\ &=& (a\wedge (\sim a\vee b))\vee (((\sim b\wedge a)\wedge (\sim a))\vee (\sim a\wedge b)) \\ &=& ((a\wedge (\sim a\vee b))\vee (\sim a\wedge b)) \vee (\sim b\wedge (\sim a\wedge a)) \\ &=& ((\sim a\wedge a) \vee (a\wedge b)\vee (\sim a \wedge b))\vee (\sim b\wedge 2a) \\ &=& (2a \vee ((\sim a \wedge a)\vee b))\vee (\sim b\wedge 2a) \\ &=& (2a \vee (2a \vee b))\vee (\sim b\wedge 2a) \\ &=& (2a \vee b)\vee (\sim b\wedge 2a) \\ &=& 2a \vee (\sim b \wedge 2a) \vee b \\ &=& 2a \vee b. \end{eqnarray*}

Remark. Since a De Morgan algebra is an Ockham algebra, a morphism between any two objects in the category of De Morgan algebras behaves just like an Ockham algebra homomorphism: it preserves $\sim$

Bibliography

1

G. Grätzer, General Lattice Theory, 2nd Edition, Birkhäuser (1998)