On centered and integral homomorphisms (Q1386199)

A ring morphism \(\phi\colon R\to S\) is said to be centered, if \(S\) is generated as a left (or right) \(R\)-module by its \(R\)-centralizing elements. The author calls \(\phi\) integral if every finite subset of \(S\) is contained is some subring of \(S\) which is generated over \(R\) by a finite set of \(R\)-centralizing elements. The main purpose of this paper is to study extension properties of prime ideals and, more precisely, of points (i.e., prime ideals \(P\) of \(R\) with the property that \(R/P\) can be centrally embedded in a simple ring) with respect to integral extensions. In fact, just as in the commutative case, it appears that integral extensions possess the ``lying over'' and ``incomparability'' property for points of \(R\). The main ingredient of the proof of the latter fact is the observation that if \(R\subseteq S\) is an integral extension with the property that \(R\) is simple and \(S\) is centrally localizable (i.e., there exists a centered extension \(S'\) of \(S\) with \(S'IS'=S'\) for every non-zero ideal \(I\) of \(S\)), then \(S\) is simple as well.