Continuous orbit equivalence of semigroup actions.

In this paper, we consider semigroup actions of discrete countable semigroups on compact spaces by surjective local homeomorphisms. We introduce notions of continuous one-sided orbit equivalence and continuous orbit equivalence for semigroup actions, and characterize them in terms of the corresponding semi-groupoids and transformation groupoids respectively. Finally, we consider the case of semigroup actions by homeomorphisms and relate continuous orbit equivalence of semigroup actions to that of group actions.