On the global dimension of fibre products (Q1821851)

A ring R is called a fibre product of \(R_ 1\) and \(R_ 2\) over R' if there exist ring homomorphisms \(i_ 1: R\to R_ 1\), \(j_ 1: R_ 1\to R'\), \(i_ 2: R\to R_ 2\) and \(j_ 2: R_ 2\to R'\) forming a commutative square such that given \(r_ 1\in R_ 1\) and \(r_ 2\in R_ 2\) with \(j_ 1(r_ 2)=j_ 2(r_ 2)\), there exists a unique \(r\in R\) such that \(i_ 1(r)=r_ 1\), and \(i_ 2(r)=r_ 2\). It is assumed that \(j_ 2\) is a surjection. Generalizing a result of \textit{A. N. Wiseman} [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 97, 399-406 (1985; Zbl 0588.16016)], it is shown that lgldim \(R\leq \max _{i}\{lgl\dim R_ i+fd(R_ i)_ R\}\) where \(fd(R_ i)_ R\) represents the flat dimension of \(R_ i\) as a right R-module. A corollary of this result is that if A is a subring of a ring B with Q an ideal of B, \(Q\subseteq A\), then \[ lgl\dim A\leq \max \{lgl\dim (A/Q)+fd(A/Q)_ A,\quad lgl\dim B+fd(B)_ A\}. \] The global dimensions of several rings are explicitly computed; e.g. when D is a Dedekind domain with quotient field K it is shown that \(gl\dim (D+(x_ 1,...,x_ n)K[x_ 1,...,x_ n])=n+1\), answering a question of \textit{J. E. Carrig} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 236, 275-285 (1978; Zbl 0389.13004)].