Automorphisms of algebras of upper triangular matrices (Q1121358)

In an earlier work Jøndrup considered the ring of upper triangular matrices with entries from a simple artinian ring which is finite dimensional over its center. He shows that every automorphism is inner. In this note we obtain a somewhat more general result. Let A be an algebra over a commutative ring R for which every nontrivial R- endomorphism of A is an R-automorphism. Then every R-automorphism of the algebra of upper triangular matrices can be factored into a product of an inner automorphism and an automorphism which is induced elementwise by an R-automorphism of A.