Flat endofinite modules, prime ideals, and duality. (Q402668)

The length of an \(R\)-module \(M\) as module over its endomorphism ring is known as its endolength. If a module has finite endolength, it is called endofinite. Injective and flat endofinite modules are the focus of this paper and a variety of bijective correspondences are found. Many of the results involve some or other torsion theory. A prime ideal \(P\) is said to be left Noetherian if \(E_R(R/P)\) is \(\Sigma\)-injective. If \(\mathbf N(R)\) denotes the set of left Noetherian prime ideals of \(R\) and \(\mathbf I(R)\) the set of isomorphism classes \([I]\) of indecomposable \(\Sigma\)-injective \(R\)-modules, then an indecomposable injective \(R\)-module \(I\) is shown to be endofinite if and only if \(I\cong I_P\) for some minimal prime \(P\in\mathbf N(R)\), if and only if \([I]\) is minimal in \(\mathbf I(R)\) (with respect to the cogenerating order). This gives rise to a one-to-one correspondence between minimal left Noetherian prime ideals of a ring \(R\) and isomorphism classes of endofinite indecomposable injective \(R\)-modules, as well as to a one-to-one correspondence between the prime ideals associated with an endofinite injective \(R\)-module \(I\) with endomorphism ring \(E\) and \(\text{udim\,}I<\infty\), and the isomorphism classes of simple \(E\)-modules. Flat endofinite modules are studied and flat right \(R\)-modules are characterized as those modules \(F\) having a finite maximal chain of \(F\)-multipliers. A rank function is defined to be a map \(\delta\) from the lattice \(\mathbf L(R)\) of left ideals of \(R\) to the set of positive integers such that \(\delta(A:a)+\delta(Ra+A)=\delta(R)+\delta(A)\) and \(\delta(A)=\sup\{\delta(A')\mid A\supset A'\in\mathbf L(R),\;A'\mathrm{ fg}\}\) for all ring elements \(a\) and left ideals \(A\). The rank function \(\delta\) is said to be normalized if \(\delta(A)<\delta(R)\) for a left ideal \(A\) of \(R\) implies that \(A\) is contained in a left ideal \(B\) with \(\delta(B)=\delta(R)-1\). A function \(\chi\) from \(\text{Mod}(R)\) to the set of positive integers together with \(\{\infty\}\) is said to be a pseudo-character if (i) \(\chi(M)=\chi(L)+\chi(N)\) for every short exact sequence \(0\to L\to M\to N\to 0\) of \(R\)-modules; (ii) \(\chi(M)=\sup\{\chi(M')\mid M'\mathrm{ an fg module of }M\}\). If also \(\chi(R)<\infty\), then \(\chi\) is said to be a character. It is shown that there is a pseudo-character associated with every hereditary torsion theory. A torsion theory \((\mathbf{T,F})\) is said to be endofinite if it is hereditary and its associated pseudo-character is a character. It is shown that endofinite torsion theories are exactly those of the form \((\mathbf T_F,\mathbf F_F)\), with \(F\) flat and endofinite, leading to a one-to-one correspondence between normalized rank functions, endofinite torsion theories and normalized characters on the category of \(R\)-modules. For an endofinite flat \(R^{op}\)-module \(F\), a one-to-one correspondence between a certain class of ideals of \(F\), isomorphism classes of indecomposable direct summands of \(F\) and simple objects in \(\text{Mod}(R)/\mathbf T_F\) is also established. The final section deals with QF-3-rings, with the principal result showing that a symmetric endofinite torsion theory \((\mathbf{T,F})\) in \(\text{Mod}(R)\) is perfect if and only if the quotient ring \(R_{\mathbf F}\) is a quasi-Frobenius ring.