Annihilator characterizations of Boolean rings and Boolean lattices (Q1326026)

An associative ring is said to be Boolean provided all its elements are idempotent. A generalized Boolean lattice is defined as a relatively pseudocomplemented distributive lattice with zero. The annihilator of an element \(a\) of a ring \(R\) (lattice \(L\) with zero) is the set \(a^*= \{x\in R\mid ax= xa= 0\}\) (\(a^*= \{x\in L\mid a\land x= 0\}\)). Various characterizations of Boolean rings within the class of associative rings (of generalized Boolean lattices within the class of distributive lattices with zero) are provided in terms of annihilators. Boolean rings are also characterized in terms of 0-automorphisms, i.e. of bijections \(\alpha\) such that \(xy= 0\Leftrightarrow \alpha(x)\alpha(y)= 0\).