Small cofinite irreducibles (Q1372648)

drom the paper: \textit{M. Hochster} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 231, 463-488 (1977; Zbl 0369.13005)] defined the notion of an approximately Gorenstein ring. This notion is connected with the principal systems studied by \textit{D. G. Northcott} and \textit{D. Rees} [Q. J. Math., Oxf. II. Ser. 8, 119-127 (1957; Zbl 0077.26001)]. A local (noetherian) ring \((A,{\mathfrak m})\) is called approximately Gorenstein, if for every \(n\) there is an irreducible \({\mathfrak m}\)-primary ideal \({\mathfrak q}\), such that \({\mathfrak q}\subset {\mathfrak m}^n\). The ideal \({\mathfrak a}\) of \(A\) is a principal system precisely when the quotient ring \(A/{\mathfrak a}\) is approximately Gorenstein. Hochster also defined the notion for a finite module to have small cofinite irreducibles. In this paper we give generalizations of his results. Definition. The module \(M\) over the local ring \((A,{\mathfrak m})\) is said to have small cofinite irreducibles (abbreviated SCI) if for every submodule \(N\) of \(M\) such that the quotient \(M/N\) is a non-zero artinian module, there is an irreducible submodule \(Q\) of \(M\) such that \(Q\subset N\) and \(M/Q\) is artinian. The main result in the first section is theorem 1.2, where we prove that a module \(M\) over a local ring \(A\) has SCI if and only if its Matlis dual \(\check M\) is the directed union of its set of cyclic \(\widehat A\)-submodules, where \(\widehat A\) is the completion of \(A\). Also very useful is corollary 1.5, which says that any submodule of a module with SCI has SCI, too. In the second section, corollary 2.4, we prove a necessary condition for a module to have SCI. This condition was proved by Hochster with the help of the theory of canonical modules. Here we give a direct proof. Then we prove, without using anything from the theory of excellent rings, that a complete local domain of dimension \(\geq 2\) is approximately Gorenstein. In the third section the relation cyclic purity versus purity for a finite module in a larger module is studied. This is done even for arbitrary modules, when the local ring is assumed to be complete or more generally quasi-complete. In the last section, we investigate how approximately Gorenstein rings behave with respect to homomorphisms.