Ring semigroups whose subsemigroups form a chain. (Q1014263)

The author determines the rings for which the multiplicative semigroup has the property that its subsemigroups that contain zero are totally ordered under inclusion. Apart from the rings of order one or two, they are the fields of the following orders: (a) 9, (b) \(2^n\), where \(2^n-1\) is a (Mersenne) prime, or (c) a prime of the form \(2^n+1\), for some \(n>0\). \textit{P. Mihăilescu}'s affirmation of Catalan's conjecture [J. Reine Angew. Math. 572, 167-195 (2004; Zbl 1067.11017)] plays an essential role in the final categorization.