Zero divisors and prime elements of bounded semirings

A semiring is an algebraic structure similar to a ring, but without the requirement that each element must have an additive inverse. A bounded semiring is a semiring equipped with a compatible bounded partial order. In this paper, properties of zero divisors and prime elements of a bounded semiring are studied. In particular, it is proved that under some mild assumption, the set Z(A) of nonzero zero divisors of A is A {0, 1}, and each prime element of A is a maximal element. For a bounded semiring A with Z(A) = A {0, 1}, it is proved that A has finitely many maximal elements if ACC holds either for elements of A or for principal annihilating ideals of A. As an application of prime elements, we show that the structure of a bounded semiring A is completely determined by the structure of integral bounded semirings if either |Z(A)| = 1 or |Z(A)| = 2 and Z(A)² ≠ 0. Applications to the ideal structure of commutative rings are also considered. In particular, when R has a finite number of ideals, it is shown that the chain complex of the poset II(R) is pure and shellable, where II(R) consists of all ideals of R.