Effective equivalence relations and principal quantales

Abstract: Stably supported quantales generalize pseudogroups and provide an algebraic context in which to study the correspondences between inverse semigroups and \'etale groupoids. Here we study a further generalization where a non-unital version of supported quantale carries the algebraic content of such correspondences to the setting of open groupoids. A notion of principal quantale is introduced which, in the case of groupoid quantales, corresponds precisely to effective equivalence relations.