The augmentation ideal in group near-rings. (Q1014277)

Let \(R\) be a near-ring, and let \(G\) be a group. \textit{L. R. le Richie}, \textit{J. D. P. Meldrum} and \textit{A. P. J. van der Walt} [Arch. Math. 52, No. 2, 132-139 (1989; Zbl 0671.16018)] provided a definition of the group near-ring \(R[G]\). The augmentation map \(f_\omega\colon R[G]\to R\) is defined as follows. Let \(\varepsilon_d\in R^G\) be defined by \(\varepsilon_d(g)=d\) for all \(g\in G\). Given \(A\in R[G]\), there exists a unique element \(a\) in \(R\) such that \(A\varepsilon_d=\varepsilon_{ad}\) for all \(d\in R\). Then \(f_\omega(A)=a\). The augmentation ideal \(\Delta\) of \(R[G]\) is then defined as the kernel of \(f_\omega\). It is shown that, provided the exponent of \(G\) is not 2, then \(\Delta\) is nilpotent if and only if \(R\) is weakly distributive, has characteristic \(p^n\) for some prime \(p\) and \(G\) is a finite \(p\)-group for the same prime \(p\) (Theorem 2.38).