Separativity of modules with finite exchange property (Q1589763)

\textit{P. Ara, K. C. O'Meara, E. Pardo} and the reviewer defined a class \(\mathcal C\) of modules to be separative provided that the modules in \(\mathcal C\) satisfy the cancellation condition \((A\oplus A\cong A\oplus B\cong B\oplus B)\) \(\implies\) \((A\cong B)\); a ring \(R\) is then called separative if the class \(FP(R)\) of all finitely generated projective right (or left) \(R\)-modules is separative [Isr. J. Math. 105, 105-137 (1998; Zbl 0908.16002)]. Here the authors consider the class \(FP(Q)\) of direct summands of finite* direct sums of copies of a module \(Q\), and they define \(Q\) to be separative provided the class \(FP(Q)\) is separative. Many known results about separative exchange rings and their finitely generated projective modules are then carried over to separative modules satisfying the finite exchange property, with similar proofs. For instance, the endomorphism ring of a separative module with the finite exchange property has stable rank \(1\), \(2\), or \(\infty\). The authors also establish separativity for quasi-injective modules, finitely generated algebraically compact modules, and modules with the finite exchange property which satisfy a condition analogous to the related comparability for projective modules introduced by the first author [Algebra Colloq. 3, No. 3, 277-282 (1996; Zbl 0857.16011)]. (*) Reviewer's note: Finiteness was omitted from the authors' definition of \(FP(Q)\) on page 795. However, most of their work requires the modules in \(FP(Q)\) to be direct summands of finite direct sums \(Q^n\) -- for example, this is necessary in order that the finite exchange property passes from \(Q\) to the modules in \(FP(Q)\). Assuming the corrected definition of \(FP(Q)\), one has a well known category equivalence between \(FP(Q)\) and \(FP(\text{End}(Q))\); consequently, many results about separative rings pass immediately to separative modules. In particular, \(Q\) is a separative module if and only if \(\text{End}(Q)\) is a separative ring, a result which the authors only obtain under the assumption that \(Q\) is finitely generated.