Generalized periodic rings (Q1907705)

Let \(R\) be a ring, \(N\) the set of nilpotent elements and \(C\) the center of \(R\). A ring \(R\) is called (i) periodic if for any \(x\in R\) there exist distinct positive integers \(m\), \(n\) such that \(x^m=x^n\); (ii) weakly periodic if any \(x\in R\) can be represented as a sum \(a + b\) of a potent element \(a\) \((a^m=a)\) and a nilpotent \(b\); (iii) generalized periodic if for any \(x\in R\setminus (N\cup C)\) there exist positive integers \(m\), \(n\) of opposite parity such that \(x^m - x^n\in N\cap C\). The fundamental theorem of the paper states that the set \(N\) in a generalized periodic ring \(R\) is a two-sided ideal and \(R/N\) is commutative. Based on this result the authors prove, further, that if \(R\) is both generalized and weakly periodic then \(R\) is periodic. It should be noted in this connection that the question of whether an arbitrary weakly periodic ring is periodic remains open. The paper is concluded by some conditions of commutativity of a generalized periodic ring \(R\), e.g. \(R\) turns out to be commutative if \(N\subset C\) or \(R\) has a unit element.