Classes of almost clean rings. (Q1956368)

A ring is clean (respectively almost clean) if each of its elements is the sum of a unit (resp. regular) and an idempotent. We say that a ring \(R\) is special clean (resp. special almost clean) if every element \(a\in R\) can be decomposed as the sum of a unit (resp. regular) element \(u\) and an idempotent \(e\) such that \(aR\cap eR=0\). If the special (almost) clean decomposition is unique, we say that the ring is uniquely special (almost) clean. Recall that a module is clean (respectively almost clean) if its endomorphism ring is clean (resp. almost clean). Recall also that a module \(M\) is said to be CS (or extending) if every submodule of \(M\) is essential inside a summand of \(M\). Some of the results in the paper are: Every quasi-continuous and nonsingular module is almost clean. Every right CS and right nonsingular ring is almost clean. As a corollary all right strongly semihereditary rings (which includes finite \(AW^*\)-algebras and in particular Noetherian Leavitt path algebras) are almost clean. The Camillo-Khurana Theorem characterizes unit-regular rings as special clean rings. The authors prove that an Abelian ring is Rickart if and only if it is special almost clean. As a corollary any right quasi-continuous and right nonsingular ring is left and right Rickart. Moreover: An Abelian ring is unit-regular (equiv. special clean) if and only if it is uniquely special clean. An Abelian right quasi-continuous ring is Rickart (equiv. special almost clean) if and only if it is uniquely special almost clean. Finally the authors adapt some of the results to rings with involution replacing in the definitions the notion of idempotent with that of projection (self-adjoint idempotent). They prove that an Abelian \(*\)-ring is a Rickart \(*\)-ring if and only if it is special almost \(*\)-clean and that an Abelian \(*\)-ring is \(*\)-regular if and only if it is special \(*\)-clean.