The locally nilradical for modules over commutative rings (Q2204395)

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring and \(\mathfrak{a}\) an ideal of \(R\). The \(\mathfrak{a}\)-torsion functor \(\Gamma_\mathfrak{a}:R\)-Mod \(\rightarrow R\)-Mod has been defined by \(M \mapsto \Gamma_{\mathfrak{a}} (M) := \{m \in M:\mathfrak{a}^{k}m=0 ~ \mathrm{for ~ some} ~ k \in \mathbb{Z}^{+}\}\). Let \(a \in R\) and let \(\mathfrak{a}\) be an ideal of \(R\) generated by \(a\). Then \(\Gamma_{\mathfrak{a}} (M) = \{ m \in M : a^{k} = 0 ~ \mathrm{for ~ some} ~ k \in \mathbb{Z}^{+} \}\) and is denoted simply by \(\Gamma_{a}(m)\). The functor \(\Gamma_{\mathfrak{a}}\) is generalised to the locally nilradical \(a\Gamma_{a}\) as follows: \(a\Gamma_{a} : R\text{-Mod} \rightarrow R\text{-Mod} ; M \mapsto a\Gamma_{a}(M)\), where \(a\Gamma_{a}(M) := \{am : a^{k}m = 0 ~ \mathrm{for ~ some} ~ k \in \mathbb{Z}^{+}\}.\) An \(R\)-module \(M\) is said to be \(a\)-reduced (\(a \in R\)) if for all \(m \in M\), \(a^{2}m = 0\) implies that \(am = 0\), and \(M\) is said to be reduced if it is \(a\)-reduced for all \(a \in R\). Several characterizations for \(M\) to be \(a\)-reduced (resp. reduced, i.e., \(a\)-reduced for all \(~ a \in R\)) are found in terms of the locally nilradical. The locally nilradical is shown to be a preradical and various properties are found, such as conservation of direct sums and of polynomial rings (i.e., \(a\Gamma_{a} (R)[x] = a\Gamma_{a}(R[x]) ~ \text{ for all } ~ a \in R.\)) If \(R\) is a Noetherian local ring of characteristic \(p\), \(a\Gamma_{a}(-)\) is shown to be a zero functor on \(R\)-Mod for all \( \in R\) if and only if \(R\) is a regular ring. Let \(N\) be a submodule of an \(R\)-module \(M\). The envelope \(E_{M}(N)\) is the set \(\{a_{m}:a^{k}m \in N, a \in R, m \in M, ~ \mathrm {for ~ some} ~ k \in \mathbb{Z}^{+} \}\). Stratification of the envelope and the nilradical of any ring is shown, viz. \(E_{M}(0) = \underset{a \in R}{\bigcup} a\Gamma_{a}(M)\) and \(\mathcal{N}(R) = \underset{a \in R}{\bigcup} a\Gamma_{a}(R) = E_{R}(0).\) In the case of a reduced module \(M\) defined over a reduced ring \(R\), stratification of the torsion submodule \(t(M)\) (defined as \(\{ m \in M : am = 0 ~ \mathrm{for ~ some} ~ 0 \neq a \in R \}\)) is also shown, i.e., \(t(M) = \underset{0 \neq a \in R}{\bigcup} a\Gamma_{a}(M)\). The relationship between the locally nilradical and other radicals, such as the Jacobson, semiprime and \(a\)-semiprime radicals, is also studied. A short section showing how reduced modules simplify computations of local cohomology by getting rid of direct limits, concludes the paper.