Equivalent generating pairs of an ideal of a commutative ring (Q2042927)

The author investigates two generated ideals in a commutative ring with unity. Let \(\mathrm{SL}_2(R)\) be the group of \(2\times 2\) matrices over \(R\) with determinant \(1\). They study the action of \(\mathrm{SL}_2(R)\) by matrix right-multiplication on \(V_2(I)\), the set of generating pairs of \(I\). \(\mathrm{Fitt}_1(I)\) is the second Fitting ideal of \(I\). The main result states that \(V_2(I)/\mathrm{SL}_2(R)\) identifies with a group of units of \(R/\text{Fitt}_1(I)\) via a natural generalization of the determinant if \(I\) can be generated by two regular (not zero-divisors) elements. The author provides several corollaries and other interesting propositions as well as showing the results in Bass rings. As an application, they derive a formula for the number of cusps of a modular group over a quadratic order. The article contains a nice background and history of the area to provide context to these generalizations as well as an extensive bibliography for the interested reader.