An alternative approach to theory of weak factoriality (Q2421572)

Let $R$ be an integral domain with quotient field $K$. An element $a \in R$ is said to be primary if the principal ideal $aR$ of $R$ is a primary ideal and $R$ is called a weakly factorial domain (WFD) if each nonzero nonunit of $R$ can be written as a finite product of primary elements of $R$. Then clearly a UFD is a WFD. \par The author introduced the concepts of a quantum and a super quantum of an integral domain as follows. A nonzero nonunit element $q$ of $R$ is called a super quantum if for each $x \in R$, $(q, x)_v \ne R$, which implies that there exists a positive integer $n$ such that $q|x^n$, where $I^{-1}=\{x \in K \mid xI \subseteq R\}$ and $I_v=(I^{-1})^{-1}$. A nonzero nonunit element $q$ of $R$ is called a quantum if for each nonunit $q_1|q$, there exists a positive integer $n$ such that $q|q_1^n$. Then the author studied basic properties of these concepts along the lines of \textit{D. D. Anderson} et al. [Boll. Unione Mat. Ital., VII. Ser., A 9, No. 2, 401--413 (1995; Zbl 0919.13001)] and gave the relationships of primary elements, prime quanta [loc. cit.], super quanta, and quanta. It is also shown that every nonzero nonunit of a WFD is expressible as a product of the same set of mutually $v$-coprime super quanta, where elements $x_1, \dots, x_n$ of $R$ are said to be mutually $v$-coprime if $(x_i, x_j)_v=R$ for $i \ne j$.