Affiliated series and extensions of modules (Q1178864)

The subject of this paper is the manner in which the affiliated series of a module \(M\) over a Noetherian ring \(R\) are influenced by the nature of the links between prime ideals of \(R\). (An affiliated series of \(M\) is a sequence \(0=M_ 0\subset M_ 1\subset\dots\subset M_ n=M\) of submodules together with a collection \(\{P_ 1,\dots,P_ n\}\) of prime ideals of \(R\), such that \(P_ i\) is a maximal annihilator prime of \(M/M_{i-1}\) and \(M_ i/M_{i-1}=\hbox{Ann}_{M_ i/M_{i-1}}(P_ i)\).) It therefore develops further the ideas of \textit{K. A. Brown} and \textit{R. B. Warfield}, jun. [J. Algebra 116, 294-315 (1988; Zbl 0652.16006)]. The earlier paper dealt with rings satisfying the second layer condition, whereas the present paper examines what can be said without this hypothesis, (in particular with an eye on enveloping algebras of Lie algebras). The results, though interesting, are too technical to state here; the central one may be summarized as saying that ``affiliated primes are linked to annihilator primes''.