Commutative group rings with von Neumann regular total rings of quotients. (Q2438917)

Let \(RG\) be the group ring of an Abelian group \(G\) over a commutative ring \(R\) with identity and \(Q(R)\) be the total ring of quotients of \(R\). A ring \(R\) is said to be uniquely divisible by the order of every element of \(G\) if for every \(g\) in \(G\) of finite order \(n\), \(n\) divides every element \(r\in R\), and if \(r=ns=nt\) for some \(t,s\in R\) is fulfilled, then \(s=t\) (Definition 2.1). The authors prove that if either \(G\) is torsion free or \(R\) is uniquely divisible by the order of every element of \(G\) and \(Q(R)\) is von Neumann regular, then \(Q(RG)\) is von Neumann regular (Theorem 2.3). In Example 2.4 they consider a torsion free or mixed Abelian group \(G\) such that \(Q(RG)\) is von Neumann regular, but \(Q(R)\) is not von Neumann regular. The authors remind that a commutative ring \(R\) is called a PP ring, or a weak Baer ring (respectively, a PF ring), if every principal ideal of \(R\) is projective (respectively, flat). They prove that if \(G\) is a torsion free Abelian group, then \(RG\) is a PF ring (respectively, PP ring) if and only if \(R\) is a PF ring (respectively, PP ring) (Theorem 3.3). The authors prove additionally, that if \(RG\) is a PF ring (respectively, PP ring), then \(R\) is a PF ring (respectively, PP ring), and either \(G\) is torsion free or \(R\) is uniquely divisible by the order of every element of \(G\) (Proposition 3.5). In Example 3.6 they consider an Abelian group \(G\) and a ring \(R\) which is PP ring and is uniquely divisible by the order of every element of \(G\), but \(RG\) is neither a PP ring nor a PF ring. In the paper the following six extensions of the Prüfer domain notion to rings with zero divisors are considered: (1) \(R\) is a semihereditary ring. (2) \(\text{w.gl.dim }R\leq 1\). (3) \(R\) is an arithmetical ring. (4) \(R\) is a Gaussian ring. (5) \(R\) is a locally Prüfer ring. (6) \(R\) is a Prüfer ring. -- As the authors note, these six Prüfer conditions have been extensively studied for the last 5 to 7 years. In the paper the following result is proved. Theorem 4.3. If \(G\) is not torsion free, assume that \(R\) is uniquely divisible by the order of every element of \(G\). Then: (i) If \(G\) is either a torsion free or a mixed group, each one of the Prüfer conditions (1)-(6) is equivalent to: \(R\) is a von Neumann regular ring and rank \(G=1\). (ii) If \(G\) is a torsion group and, in addition, \(Q(R)\) is von Neumann regular, each one of the Prüfer conditions (1)-(6) is equivalent to: \(R\) is a semihereditary ring. In Example 4.5, a ring \(R\) of characteristic 2 and a group \(G\) of order 4 such that \(RG\) is locally Prüfer but not Gaussian are considered.