Endofinite modules and pure semisimple rings. (Q2386077)

A ring \(R\) is called right pure semisimple when every right \(R\)-module is a direct sum of finitely generated modules and \(R\) is said to be of finite representation type if it is right (and left) Artinian and has only a finite number of isomorphism classes of finitely generated indecomposable right (and left) \(R\)-modules. A ring has finite representation type if and only if it is pure semisimple on both sides and the problem whether a right pure semisimple ring is of finite representation type, which is still open, is called the `pure semisimplicity conjecture'. Inspired by the work of \textit{L. Gruson} [Represent. Algebr., Proc. int. Conf., Ottawa 1974, Lect. Notes Math. 488, 156--159 (1975; Zbl 0318.18012)], the authors look at this conjecture in the special case when (some) finitely presented indecomposable right \(R\)-modules are endofinite, namely, of finite length as left modules over their endomorphism rings, a property enjoyed by all right \(R\)-modules when \(R\) has finite representation type. In this direction they prove that, for a right pure semisimple ring, the endofiniteness of all finitely presented indecomposable right \(R\)-modules implies finite representation type. This can be regarded as a generalization of Auslander's theorem that ensures the validity of the pure-semisimplicity conjecture for Artin algebras, which is a consequence of the present result because of the fact that, over such algebras, all finitely presented right modules are endofinite. As another application of the theorem, the authors obtain an alternative proof of the pure-semisimplicity conjecture for PI-rings, a result due to I. Herzog. Other applications include several new criteria for a right pure-semisimple ring to be of finite representation type.