On the diameter and girth of a zero-divisor graph (Q886240)

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring with zero-divisors \(Z(R)\). \ The zero-divisor graph \(\Gamma (R)\) of \(R\) is the set \(Z(R)-\{0\}\) as vertices with two distinct vertices \(x\) and \(y\) adjacent if and only if \(xy=0\). \textit{D. F. Anderson} and \textit{P. S. Livingston} [J. Algebra 217, No. 2, 434--447 (1999; Zbl 0941.05062)] showed that \(\Gamma (R)\) is connected with diameter \(\text{diam}(\Gamma (R))\leq 3\) and has girth \(\text{gr}(\Gamma (R))\leq 4\) if \(\Gamma (R)\) contains a cycle. In the paper under review, it is shown that if \(\text{diam}(\Gamma (R))\leq 3\), then exactly one of the following holds: (1) \(Z(R)\) is a prime ideal, or (2) \(T(R)\), the total quotient ring of \( R\), is isomorphic to a direct product of two fields. It is shown that for \(R\) a reduced commutative ring, \(\text{gr}(\Gamma (R))=4\) if and only if \(T(R)\) is isomorphic to a direct product of two fields each with at least three elements and that \(\Gamma (R)\) is nonempty with \(\text{gr}(\Gamma (R))=\infty \) if and only if \(T(R)\) is isomorphic to \(\mathbb{Z}_{2}\times K\) where \(K\) is a field. In the case where \(R\) is not reduced, \(\text{gr}(\Gamma (R))=4\) if and only if \(R\cong D\times B\) where \(D\) is an integral domain with \(| D| \geq 3\) and \(B\cong \mathbb{Z}_{4}\) or \(\mathbb{Z}_{2}[X]/(X^{2})\) and \(\text{gr}(\Gamma (R))=\infty \) if and only if \(R\cong B\) or \(R\cong \mathbb{Z}_{2}\times B\) where \(B\cong \mathbb{Z}_{4}\) or \(\mathbb{Z}_{2}[X]/(X^{2})\), or \(\Gamma (R)\) is a star graph. Applications are given to the cases where \(R\) is a polynomial ring, power series ring, or idealization.