A note on complete rings of quotients and McCoy rings (Q1928221)

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring with \(1 \neq 0\), total quotient ring \(\mathrm{tq}(R)\), complete ring of quotients \(C(R)\), and \(Z(R)\) its set of zero-divisors. Recall that \(R\) is a McCoy ring if ann\(_R(I) \neq 0\) for every finitely generated ideal \(I\) of \(R\) with \(I \subseteq Z(R)\). In [Rend. Circ. Mat. Palermo (2) 61, No. 1, 123--131 (2012; Zbl 1263.13005)], the authors showed that if \(R\) is reduced (i.e., \(R\) has no nonzero nilpotent elements), then \(IC(R) \neq C(R)\) for every ideal \(I\) of \(R\) with \(I \subseteq Z(R)\) if and only if \(R\) is a McCoy ring. In this paper, the authors use idealization to construct a ring \(R\) with \(R = \mathrm{tq}(R)\) such that \(IC(R) \neq C(R)\) for every proper ideal \(I\) of \(R\), but \(R\) is not a McCoy ring. Several new characterizations of von Neumann regular rings are also given. For example, \(R\) is von Neumann regular if and only if \(R\) is a reduced McCoy ring with \(\mathrm{tq}(R) = R\) and \(R \subseteq C(R)\) satisfies GD.