Abstract Factorization Theorems with Applications to Idempotent Factorizations

MaRDI QIDQ6376165zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Laura Cossu, Salvatore Tringali

Publication date 27 August 2021

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Ordered semigroups and monoids (06F05) Factorization of matrices (15A23) Idempotent elements (associative rings and algebras) (16U40) Idempotents, Peirce decompositions (17C27) Preorders, orders, domains and lattices (viewed as categories) (18B35)

Abstract: Let $preceq$ be a preorder on a monoid $H$ and $s$ be an integer $ge2$. The $preceq$-height of an $xinH$ is the sup of the integers $kge1$ for which there is a (strictly) $preceq$-decreasing sequence $x_1,ldots,x_k$ of $preceq$-non-units of $H$ with $x_1=x$ (with $supemptyset:=0$), where $uinH$ is a $preceq$-unit if $upreceq{1}_{H}precequ$ and a $preceq$-non-unit otherwise. We say $H$ is $preceq$-artinian if there exists no $preceq$-decreasing sequence $x_1,x_2,ldots$ of elements of $H$; and strongly $preceq$-artinian if the $preceq$-height of each element is finite. We establish that, if $H$ is $preceq$-artinian, then each $preceq$-non-unit $xinH$ factors through the $preceq$-irreducibles of degree $s$, where a $preceq$-irreducible of degree $s$ is a $preceq$-non-unit $ainH$ that cannot be written as a product of $s$ or fewer $preceq$-non-units each of which is (strictly) smaller than $a$ with respect to $preceq$. In addition, we show that, if $H$ is strongly $preceq$-artinian, then $x$ factors through the $preceq$-quarks of $H$, where a $preceq$-quark is a $preceq$-min $preceq$-non-unit. In the process, we also obtain upper bounds for the length of a shortest factorization of $x$ (into either $preceq$-irreducible of degree $s$ or $preceq$-quarks) in terms of its $preceq$-height. Next, we specialize these abstract results to the case in which $H$ is the multiplicative submonoid of a ring $R$ formed by the zero divisors and the identity $1_R$, and $preceq$ is the preorder on $H$ defined by $apreceqb$ iff $r_R(1_R-b)subseteq{r}_R(1_R-a)$, where $r_R(cdot)$ denotes a right annihilator. We can thus recover and improve on classical theorems of J.A. Erdos (1967), R.J.H. Dawlings (1981), and J. Fountain (1991) on idempotent factorizations in the endomorphism ring of a free module of finite rank over a skew field or a commutative DVD.

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