Strong submodules of almost projective modules. (Q411884)

It is well known that various properties associated to some chains of submodules represent important tools in the study of some particular modules, and they often provide information about the category of all modules over a fixed ring. For instance, \textit{P. Hill} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 182, 201-209 (1973; Zbl 0275.20096)] generalized a criterion of \textit{L. Pontryagin} [Ann. Math. (2) 35, 361-388 (1934; Zbl 0009.15601)] proving that a \(\mathbb Z\)-module is projective if and only if it is a union of a countable chain of pure submodules which are projective modules. In general a ring \(R\) satisfies `the Condition (P)' if all unions of pure chains of projective modules are projective. This condition is very useful in the study of almost projective modules, as it is shown in the first section of the paper (e.g. Proposition 1.8). Hill's theorem was generalized by many authors. For instance it is valid for Noetherian rings [\textit{L. Fuchs} and \textit{K. M. Rangaswamy}, J. Algebra Appl. 10, No. 1, 167-180 (2011; Zbl 1213.13024)] and for Prüfer domains with countable spectrum [\textit{J. Macías-Díaz}, Pac. J. Math. 246, No. 2, 391-405 (2010; Zbl 1205.13014)]. In the main result of this paper (Theorem 2.5) it is proved that all countable rings satisfy the Condition (P). It is also shown that Condition (P) fails for Prüfer domains of finite character with uncountable spectrum and for principal ideal domains with uncountable spectrum (Section 3). Moreover, it is proved that countable rings satisfy the version of Condition (P) for pure-projective modules (Theorem 2.7).