Embeddings in free modules and Artinian rings (Q1375966)

A ring \(R\) is said to be right FGF (right CF) if every finitely generated (respectively cyclic) right \(R\)-module embeds in a free \(R\)-module. This paper looks at the open question, known as the FGF problem, of whether a right FGF ring is quasi-Frobenius (QF). (If every right \(R\)-module embeds in a free module then it is well-known that \(R\) is QF.) \textit{P. Menal} proved [in Publ., Secc. Mat., Univ. Autòn. Barc. 27, 141-154 (1983; Zbl 0594.16021)]\ that if \(R\) is right CF and the injective envelope \(E=E(R_R)\) is projective then \(R\) is QF and so, given a ring \(R\), there exists a cardinal \(c\) with the property that, if every \(c\)-generated right \(R\)-module embeds in a free, then \(R\) is QF. He conjectured that it is not enough to take \(c\) countable, i.e., there are rings \(R\) for which every countably generated module embeds in a free but \(R\) is not QF. The main result of the current paper is that if \(c\) is the cardinality of \(R\) and every \(c\)-generated right \(R\)-module embeds in a free then \(R\) is QF. The proof uses the concept of an idempotent semiorthogonal family of pairwise nonisomorphic simple right modules \(\{C_k:k\in K\}\), defined by the existence of a family \(\{e_k:k\in K\}\) of idempotents in the ring with \(C_ke_k\neq 0\) for each \(k\) and, for \(j\neq k\), either \(C_je_k\) or \(C_ke_j\) is zero. [The authors used such families effectively in Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 124, No. 8, 2301-2309 (1996; Zbl 0859.16021) and Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 349, No. 11, 4343-4353 (1997; Zbl 0892.16012).] En route to the main result they show that if \(R\) is right CF and every proper submodule of \(E/JE\) is contained in a maximal submodule then \(R\) is right artinian. (Here \(J\) is the Jacobson radical.) However, using an example of \textit{J.-E. Björk} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 245, 63-73 (1970; Zbl 0211.36401)]\ they note that, even if \(E/JE\) is finitely generated, such an \(R\) can be non-QF.