Near-commutativity and partial-periodicity conditions for rings. (Q1762638)

Let \(R\) be a ring; and let \(N(R)\), \(Z(R)\), and \(J(R)\) denote respectively the set of nilpotent elements, the center, the Jacobson radical of \(R\). Let \(P(R)\) be the set of potent elements of \(R\) -- i.e. \(P(R)=\{x\in R\mid x^n=x\) for some integer \(n=n(x)>1\}\). For \(x,y\in R\), the commutator \(xy-yx\) is denoted by \([x,y]\); and the extended commutators \([x,y]_k\) are defined inductively, letting \([x,y]_1=[x,y]\) and \([x,y]_{k+1}=[[x,y]_k,y]\). A ring \(R\) is called an Engel ring if for each \(x,y\in R\), there exists a positive integer \(k\) such that \([x,y]_k=0\). In the paper under review, a ring \(R\) is called a weakly COPE ring if for each \(x,y\in R\), either \([x,y]_k=0\) for some positive integer \(k\) or there exists \(n=n(x,y)>1\) such that \(x^n-y^n\in N(R)\cap Z(R)\). It is easily observed that the class of Engel rings is contained in the class of weakly COPE rings. In [Result. Math. 42, No. 1-2, 28-31 (2002; Zbl 1036.16027)] the first author studied commutativity in COPE rings \(R\), which are defined by the property that for each \(a,b\in R\), either \(ab=ba\) or there exists an integer \(n=n(a,b)>1\) for which \(a^n=b^n\). In [\textit{A. Rosin, A. Yaqub}, Int. J. Math. Math. Sci. 2003, No. 33, 2097-2107 (2003; Zbl 1038.16023)] a ring \(R\) was defined to be subweakly periodic if each \(x \in R\setminus J(R)\) can be expressed as a sum of a nilpotent element and a potent element; and some commutativity theorems for subweakly periodic rings were presented. In the paper under review, for a subset \(S\) of a ring \(R\), the authors define \(R\) to be \(S\)-subweakly periodic if \(R\setminus S\subseteq P(R)+N(R)\). Thus \(R\) is subweakly periodic if \(R\) is \(J(R)\)-subweakly periodic. In the paper under review, the authors provide the following results for weakly COPE rings and \(S\)-subweakly periodic rings. Theorem 2.1. Let \(R\) be a COPE ring with \(N(R)\) commutative. If \(R\) contains a proper additive subgroup \(S\) such that \(R\) is \(S\)-subweakly periodic, then \(R\) is commutative. Theorem 2.3. Let \(R\) be a ring with 1 such that for each \(a,b\in R\), either \([a,b]=0\) or there exists \(n>1\) such that \(a^n-b^n\in N(R)\cap Z(R)\). Then \(R\) is commutative. Theorem 3.1. If \(R\) is a weakly COPE ring and \(N(R)\) is commutative, then \(N(R)\) is an ideal and \(R/N(R)\) is commutative. Theorem 3.4. Let \(R\) be a weakly COPE ring containing a commutative ideal \(I\) such that \(N(R)\subseteq I\) and \(R\) is \(I\)-subweakly periodic. Then \(R\) is commutative. Theorem 4.1. Let \(R\) be a ring in which \(N(R)\subseteq Z(R)\). If \(N(R)\) is contained in a commutative ideal \(I\) for which \(R\) is \(I\)-subweakly periodic, then \(R\) is commutative.