A note on zip rings

A ring R is called right zip if the right annihilator r _R (S) of a subset S of R is zero, r _R (X)=0 for a finite subset X of S. In this note we will prove that for any u.p.-monoid M a right uniform ring R is right zip if and only if the monoid ring R[M] is right zip.     

On the Behrens radical of matrix rings and polynomial rings

It is shown that the Behrens radical of a polynomial ring, in either commuting or non-commuting indeterminates, has the form of “polynomials over an ideal”. Moreover, in the case of non-commuting indeterminates, for a given coefficient ring, the ideal does not depend on the cardinality of the set of indeterminates. However, in contrast to the Brown-McCoy radical, it can happen that the polynomial ring R[X] in an infinite set X of commuting indeterminates over a ring R is Behrens radical while the polynomial ring R〈X〉 in an infinite set Y of non-commuting indeterminates over R is not Behrens radical. This is connected with the fact that the matrix rings over Behrens radical rings need not be Behrens radical. The class of Behrens radical rings, which is closed under taking matrix rings, is described.     

Subalgebras of matrix algebras generated by companion matrices

Let f,g∈Z[X] be monic polynomials of degree n and let C,D∈M_n(Z) be the corresponding companion matrices. We find necessary and sufficient conditions for the subalgebra Z〈C,D〉 to be a sublattice of finite index in the full integral lattice M_n(Z), in which case we compute the exact value of this index in terms of the resultant of f and g. If R is a commutative ring with identity we determine when R〈C,D〉=M_n(R), in which case a presentation for M_n(R) in terms of C and D is given.     

On questions related to saturated chains of primes in polynomial rings

We propose to give positive answers to the open questions: is R(X,Y) strong S when R(X) is strong S? is R stably strong S (resp., universally catenary) when R[X] is strong S (resp., catenary)? in case R is obtained by a (T,I,D) construction. The importance of these results is due to the fact that this type of ring is the principal source of counterexamples. Moreover, we give an answer to the open questions: is R〈X₁,…,X_n〉 residually Jaffard (resp., totally Jaffard) when R(X₁,…,X_n) is ? We construct a three-dimensional local ring R such that R(X₁,…,X_n) is totally Jaffard (and hence, residually Jaffard) whereas R〈X₁,…,X_n〉 is not residually Jaffard (and hence, not totally Jaffard).     

Morphic rings and unit regular rings

A ring R is called left morphic if for every a∈R. A left and right morphic ring is called a morphic ring. If M_n(R) is morphic for all n≥1 then R is called a strongly morphic ring. A well-known result of Erlich says that a ring R is unit regular iff it is both (von Neumann) regular and left morphic. A new connection between morphic rings and unit regular rings is proved here: a ring R is unit regular iff R[x]/(xⁿ) is strongly morphic for all n≥1 iff R[x]/(x²) is morphic. Various new families of left morphic or strongly morphic rings are constructed as extensions of unit regular rings and of principal ideal domains. This places some known examples in a broader context and answers some existing questions.     

Von Neumann finite endomorphism rings

Let K be a field of characteristic zero, G a group acting on a nonempty set X and KX the permutation module induced by this action. By studying traces of idempotents, we prove that the endomorphism ring End_K[G](KX) is von Neumann finite under certain conditions for the action of G on X. This generalizes a classical result by Kaplansky for the group ring of G over K.     

Some inverse problems involving conditional expectations

Let (Ω, F, P) be a probability space, let H be a sub-σ-algebra of F, and let Y be positive and H-measurable with E[Y] = 1. We discuss the structure of the convex set CE(Y; H) = {X ∈ pF: Y = E[X|H]} of random variables whose conditional expectation given H is the prescribed Y. Several characterizations of extreme points of CE(Y; H) are obtained. A necessary and sufficient condition is given in order that CE(Y; H) be the closed, convex hull of its extreme points. For the case of finite F we explicitly calculate the extreme points of CE(Y; H), identify pairs of adjacent extreme points, and characterize extreme points of CE(Y; H) ? CE(Z; G), where G is a second sub-σ-algebra of F and Z ∈ pG. When H = σ(Y) and appropriate topological hypotheses hold, extreme points of CE(Y; H) are shown to be in explicit one-to-one correspondence with certain left inverses of Y. Finally, it is shown how the same approach can be applied to the problem of extremal random measures on $\text{R}$₊ with a prescribed compensator, to deduce that the number of extreme points is zero or one.     

Degree Sum Conditions for Cyclability in Bipartite Graphs

We denote by G[X, Y] a bipartite graph G with partite sets X and Y. Let d _G (v) be the degree of a vertex v in a graph G. For G[X, Y] and ${S \subseteq V(G),}$ we define ${\sigma_{1,1}(S):=\min\{d_G(x)+d_G(y) : (x,y) \in (X \cap S,Y) \cup (X, Y \cap S), xy \not\in E(G)\}}$ . Amar et al. (Opusc. Math. 29:345–364, 2009) obtained σ _1,1(S) condition for cyclability of balanced bipartite graphs. In this paper, we generalize the result as it includes the case of unbalanced bipartite graphs: if G[X, Y] is a 2-connected bipartite graph with |X| ≥ |Y| and ${S \subseteq V(G)}$ such that σ _1,1(S) ≥ |X| + 1, then either there exists a cycle containing S or ${|S \cap X| > |Y|}$ and there exists a cycle containing Y. This degree sum condition is sharp.     

Injective hulls with distinct ring structures

It is well known from Osofsky’s work that the injective hull E(R_R) of a ring R need not have a ring structure compatible with its R-module scalar multiplication. A closely related question is: if E(R_R) has a ring structure and its multiplication extends its R-module scalar multiplication, must the ring structure be unique? In this paper, we utilize the properties of Morita duality to explicitly describe an injective hull of a ring R with R=Q(R) (where Q(R) is the maximal right ring of quotients of R) such that every injective hull of R_R has (possibly infinitely many) distinct compatible ring structures which are mutually ring isomorphic and quasi-Frobenius. Further, these rings have the property that the ring structures for E(R_R) also are ring structures on E(_RR).     

On zero-divisors of near-rings of polynomials

In this paper, we are interested to study zero-divisor properties of a 0-symmetric nearring of polynomials R₀[x], when R is a commutative ring. We show that for a reduced ring R, the set of all zero-divisors of R₀[x], namely Z(R₀[x]), is an ideal of R₀[x] if and only if Z(R) is an ideal of R and R has Property (A). For a non-reduced ring R, it is shown that Z(R₀[x]) is an ideal of Z(R₀[x]) if and only if ann_R({a, b}) ∩ N i?(R) ≠ 0, for each a, b ∈ Z(R). We also investigate the interplay between the algebraic properties of a 0-symmetric nearring of polynomials R₀[x] and the graph-theoretic properties of its zero-divisor graph. The undirected zero-divisor graph of R₀[x] is the graph Γ(R₀[x]) such that the vertices of Γ(R₀[x]) are all the non-zero zero-divisors of R₀[x] and two distinct vertices f and g are connected by an edge if and only if f ? g = 0 or g ? f = 0. Among other results, we give a complete characterization of the possible diameters of Γ(R₀[x]) in terms of the ideals of R. These results are somewhat surprising since, in contrast to the polynomial ring case, the near-ring of polynomials has substitution for its “multiplication” operation.     

When the heart of a faithful torsion pair is a module category

An abelian category with arbitrary coproducts and a small projective generator is equivalent to a module category (Mitchell (1964) [17]). A tilting object in an abelian category is a natural generalization of a small projective generator. Moreover, any abelian category with a tilting object admits arbitrary coproducts (Colpi et al. (2007) [8]). It naturally arises the question when an abelian category with a tilting object is equivalent to a module category. By Colpi et al. (2007) [8], the problem simplifies in understanding when, given an associative ring R and a faithful torsion pair (X,Y) in the category of right R-modules, the heartH(X,Y)of the t-structure associated with (X,Y) is equivalent to a category of modules. In this paper, we give a complete answer to this question, proving necessary and sufficient conditions on (X,Y) for H(X,Y) to be equivalent to a module category. We analyze in detail the case when R is right artinian.     

Varieties of strange plane curves

Abstract

Let A be a commutative ring with identity, let X, Y be indeterminates and let F(X,Y), G(X, Y) ∈ A[X, Y] be homogeneous. Then the pair F(X, Y), G(X, Y) is said to be radical preserving with respect to A if Rad((F(x, y), G(x, y))R) = Rad((x,y)R) for each A-algebra R and each pair of elements x, y in R. It is shown that infinite sequences of pairwise radical preserving polynomials can be obtained by homogenizing cyclotomic polynomials, and that under suitable conditions on a ?-graded ring A these can be used to produce an infinite set of homogeneous prime ideals between two given homogeneous prime ideals P ? Q of A such that ht(Q/P) = 2.     

Computing invariants of algebraic groups in arbitrary characteristic

Let G be an affine algebraic group acting on an affine variety X. We present an algorithm for computing generators of the invariant ring KG[X] in the case where G is reductive. Furthermore, we address the case where G is connected and unipotent, so the invariant ring need not be finitely generated. For this case, we develop an algorithm which computes KG[X] in terms of a so-called colon-operation. From this, generators of KG[X] can be obtained in finite time if it is finitely generated. Under the additional hypothesis that K[X] is factorial, we present an algorithm that finds a quasi-affine variety whose coordinate ring is KG[X]. Along the way, we develop some techniques for dealing with nonfinitely generated algebras. In particular, we introduce the finite generation ideal.     

Some stably tame polynomial automorphisms

We study the structure of length three polynomial automorphisms of R[X,Y] when R is a UFD. These results are used to prove that if SL_m(R[X₁,X₂,…,X_n])=E_m(R[X₁,X₂,…,X_n]) for all n≥0 and for all m≥3 then all length three polynomial automorphisms of R[X,Y] are stably tame.     

Restricted Elasticity and Rings of Integer-Valued Polynomials Determined by Finite Subsets

Let D be an integral domain such that Int(D) ≠ K[X] where K is the quotient field of D. There is no known example of such a D so that Int(D) has finite elasticity. If E is a finite nonempty subset of D, then it is known that Int(E, D) = {f(X) ∈ K[X] | f(e) ∈ D for all e ∈ E} is not atomic. In this note, we restrict the notion of elasticity so that it is applicable to nonatomic domains. For each real number r ≥ 1, we produce a ring of integer-valued polynomials with restricted elasticity r. We further show that if D is a unique factorization domain and E is finite with |E| > 1, then the restricted elasticity of Int(E, D) is infinite. Part of this work was completed while the first author was on an Academic Leave granted by the Trinity University Faculty Development Committee.     

Pseudo-unitarizable weight modules over generalized Weyl algebras

We define a notion of pseudo-unitarizability for weight modules over a generalized Weyl algebra (of rank one, with commutative coefficient ring R), which is assumed to carry an involution of the form X^∗=Y, R^∗⊆R. We prove that a weight module V is pseudo-unitarizable iff it is isomorphic to its finitistic dual V^?. Using the classification of weight modules by Drozd, Guzner and Ovsienko, we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for an indecomposable weight module to be isomorphic to its finitistic dual, and thus to be pseudo-unitarizable. Some examples are given, including U_q(sl₂) for q a root of unity.     

Cyclic irreducible non-holonomic modules over the Weyl algebra: An algorithmic characterization

Let K be a field of characteristic zero, n≥1 an integer and A_n+1=K[X,Y₁,…,Y_n]〈∂_X,∂_Y1,…,∂_Yn〉 the (n+1)th Weyl algebra over K. Let S∈A_n+1 be an order-1 differential operator of the type with a_i,b_i∈K[X] and g_i∈K[X,Y_i] for every i=1,…,n. We construct an algorithm that allows one to recognize whether S generates a maximal left ideal of A_n+1, hence also whether A_n+1/A_n+1S is an irreducible non-holonomic A_n+1-module. The algorithm, which is a powerful instrument for producing concrete examples of cyclic maximal left ideals of A_n, is easy to implement and quite useful; we use it to solve several open questions.The algorithm also allows one to recognize whether certain families of algebraic differential equations have a solution in K[X,Y₁,…,Y_n] and, when they have one, to compute it.     

Integral extensions on rings of continuous functions

Let π:X→Y be a surjective continuous map between Tychonoff spaces. The map π induces, by composition, an injective morphism C(Y)→C(X) between the corresponding rings of real-valued continuous functions, and this morphism allows us to consider C(Y) as a subring of C(X). This paper deals with finiteness properties of the ring extension C(Y)⊆C(X) in relation to topological properties of the map π:X→Y. The main result says that, for X a compact subset of Rn, the extension C(Y)⊆C(X) is integral if and only if X decomposes into a finite union of closed subsets such that π is injective on each one of them.     

The minimal generating space of a polynomial

Given a polynomial $\text{P(X}{}_1\text{,…,X}{}_{\mathrm{N}}\text{)∈}\text{R}\text{[}\text{X}\text{]}$, we calculate a subspace G_p of the linear space 〈X〉 generated by the indeterminates which is minimal with respect to the property $\text{P∈}\text{R}\text{[}\text{G}{}_{\mathrm{p}}\text{]}$ (the algebra generated by G_p, and prove its uniqueness. Furthermore, we use this result to characterize the pairs (P,Q) of polynomials P(X₁,…,X_n) and Q(X₁,…,X_n) for which there exists an isomorphism T:〈X〉 →〈X〉 that “separates P from Q,” i.e., such that for some k(1<k<n) we can write P and Q as $\text{P}{}^1\text{(Y}{}_1\text{,…,Y}{}_{\mathrm{k}}\text{)}$ and $\text{Q}{}^1\text{(Y}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>k+</mtext><mtext>1</mtext>}}\text{,…,Y}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{)}$ respectively, where $\text{Y}\text{=T}\text{X}$.     

On additive polynomials and certain maximal curves

We show that a maximal curve over F_q² given by an equation A(X)=F(Y), where A(X)∈F_q²[X] is additive and separable and where F(Y)∈F_q²[Y] has degree m prime to the characteristic p, is such that all roots of A(X) belong to F_q². In the particular case where F(Y)=Y^m, we show that the degree m is a divisor of q+1.