Closed and prime ideals in free centred extensions (Q1188121)

This paper studies prime ideals in the rings \(R\subseteq S\) with \(S\) a free centred extension of \(R\). By definition, this means that \(S=R[E]\) where \(E\) is a free \(R\)-basis for \(S_ R\) consisting of elements centralizing \(R\) and where the common identity of \(R\) and \(S\) is contained in \(E\). Thus this situation is more general than finite centralizing extensions because \(E\) is allowed to be infinite, but it is also less general because of the freeness assumption. As usual, one considers prime ideals \(P\) of \(S\) with \(P\cap R=0\) and hence it suffices to assume that \(R\) is a prime ring. This paper starts by defining the concept of a closed ideal and then goes on to prove the main correspondence theorem. Specifically, let \(R\) be a prime ring with extended centroid \(C\) and let \(T\) be any right ring of quotients of \(R\). Then there is a one-to-one correspondence between the set of all closed (resp. \(R\)-disjoint prime) ideals of \(S=R[E]\), the set of all (resp. prime) ideals of \(C[E]\), and the set of all closed (resp. \(T\)-disjoint prime) ideals of \(T[E]\). As a consequence it is shown that if \(R\) is a strongly prime (or nonsingular prime, or primitive) ring and if \(P\) is a prime ideal of \(S\) maximal with respect to being disjoint from \(R\), then \(P\) is a strongly prime (or nonsingular prime, or primitive) ideal.