Primary decompositions for left Noetherian rings. (Q2267801)

Let \(R\) be an associative ring with unit element 1. The author introduces a theory of primary decomposition for uniformly finite left \(R\)-modules, that is, modules whose factor modules all have finite uniform (Goldie) dimension. This theory coincides with the classical Lasker-Noether theory when \(R\) is commutative Noetherian. Here is a brief description: two left \(R\)-modules \(M_1\) and \(M_2\) are called essentially equivalent, denoted \(M_1\sim_{\text{e}}M_2\), if there exist essential submodules \(L_1\subseteq_{\text{e}}M_1\), \(L_2\subseteq_{\text{e}}M_2\) with \(L_1\cong L_2\). The equivalence class of a left \(R\)-module \(M\) under \(\sim_{\text{e}}\) is denoted by \([M]\), and the set \(\text{l.spec}(R):=\{[U]\mid U\in R\text{-mod},\;U\text{ uniform}\}\) is called the left spectrum of \(R\), its elements are called left primes. This terminology reflects the well-known 1-1 correspondence between prime ideals and isomorphism classes of injective indecomposable modules over a commutative Noetherian ring. Furthermore, \(\text{As}_R(M):=\{[U]\in\text{l.spec}(R)\mid U \subseteq M,\;U\text{ uniform}\}\) is called the set of associated left primes of the module \(M\), and a submodule \(N\) is called primary, specifically \(X\)-primary, if \(\text{As}_R(M/N)\) consists of a single element \(X\). It is proved that each proper submodule \(N\) of a uniformly finite left \(R\)-module \(M\neq 0\) has a primary decomposition, \(N=\bigcap_{i=1}^sN_i\), with \(\text{As}_R(M/N_i)=\{X_i\}\) and \(\text{As}_R(M/N)\subseteq\bigcup_{i=1}^s\{X_1,\dots,X_s\}\), and that the decomposition is shortest (i.e., no such intersection with fewer terms can be found), iff \(|\text{As}_R(M/N))|=s\). A shortest primary decomposition \(N=\bigcap_{i=1}^sN_i\) is called maximal, if, given another shortest primary decomposition \(N=\bigcap_{i=1}^sN_i'\) with \(\text{As}_R(M/N_i)=\text{As}_R(M/N_i')\) and \(N_i\subseteq N_i'\), \(1\leq i\leq s\), then \(N_i=N_i'\) for all \(i\). The author describes how shortest primary decompositions can be obtained for any submodule of a uniformly finite module, and the construction makes it clear that these decompositions are highly non-unique. The same holds for maximal shortest uniform decompositions (i.e., each \(M/N_i\) is uniform) of \(N\) in \(M\).