Orbits of free cyclic submodules over rings of lower triangular matrices (Q2038863)

Let \(T_n\) denote the ring of lower triangular \(n\times n\) matrices, \(n\geq 2\), with entries in an arbitrary (commutative) field \(F\). Furthermore, write \(^{2} T_{n}\) for the free left \(T_n\)-module comprising all pairs \((A,B)\in T_n\times T_n\). The set of all free cyclic submodules of \(^{2} T_{n}\) splits into orbits under the (right) action of the general linear group \(\mathrm{GL}_2(T_n)\). \par The \(\mathrm{GL}_2(T_n)\)-orbit of the free cyclic submodule \(T_{n}(I_n,0)\), with \(I_n\in T_{n}\) being the \(n\times n\) unit matrix, coincides with the (widely investigated) point set of the \emph{projective line} over the ring \(T_n\); see, for example [\textit{A. Blunck} and \textit{A. Herzer}, Kettengeometrien. Eine Einführung. Aachen: Shaker Verlag (2005; Zbl 1095.51001)] or [\textit{A. Herzer}, in: Handbook of incidence geometry: buildings and foundations. Amsterdam: North-Holland. 781--842 (1995; Zbl 0829.51003)]. However, little appears to be known about the remaining \(\mathrm{GL}_2(T_n)\)-orbits. The author succeeds in closing this gap. In Theorem 1, she provides a distinguished subset of \(^{2} T_{n}\) such that distinct elements generate free cyclic submodules of \(^{2} T_{n}\) belonging to distinct \(\mathrm{GL}_2(T_n)\)-orbits. Next, in Theorem 2, it is shown that all \(\mathrm{GL}_2(T_n)\)-orbits of free cyclic submodules arise from this distinguished set. Finally, the number of all such \(\mathrm{GL}_2(T_n)\)-orbits is obtained in Theorem 3: it coincides with the \emph{Bell number} \(B_n\), that is, the number of partitions of the set \(\{1,2,\ldots,n\}\). This interesting article is rounded off by a series of explicit examples.