On trace zero matrices and commutators (Q2099279)

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring. It is known that a commutator of two \(n\times n\) matrices over \(R\) has trace \(0\). The converse holds true when \(R\) is a field. \textit{D. Lissner} showed in [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 98, 285--305 (1961; Zbl 0111.01703)] that if \(R\) is a polynomial ring in \(m\geq3\) variables, then there is an \(n\times n\) trace \(0\) non-commutator for any \(2\leq n\leq\frac{m+1}{2}\). In this paper, some special conditions on a commutative ring \(R\) are considered which would yield \(n\times n\) trace \(0\) non-commutator in \(M_{n}(R)\). Rings satisfying these conditions are shown to be abundant, and thus gives many examples and improves the result of Lissner by increasing the size of the matrix allowed for a fixed \(R\). In particular, if \(R\) is a regular ring with large enough Krull dimension relative to \(n\), then there exists a \(n\times n\) trace \(0\) matrix that is not a commutator. In the final section, an example is given of a Noetherian dimension \(1\) commutative domain \(R\) which admits a \(n\times n\) trace \(0\) non-commutator for any \(n\geq2\).