Von Neumann regular rings satisfying weak comparability. (Q2426113)

For modules \(X\) and \(Y\) over a ring \(R\), write \(X\lesssim Y\) (resp. \(X\prec Y\)) in case \(X\) is isomorphic to a submodule (resp. proper submodule) of \(Y\). A regular ring \(R\) `satisfies weak comparability' if for each nonzero \(x\in R\) there is a positive integer \(n=n(x)\) such that \(n(yR)\lesssim R\) implies \(yR\lesssim xR\) for all \(y\in R\). \textit{K. C. O'Meara} proved [in J. Algebra 141, No. 1, 162-186 (1991; Zbl 0744.16007)] that every directly finite simple regular ring satisfying weak comparability is unit-regular (equivalently, the cancellation rule holds for the class of finitely generated projective modules over the ring). The author studies the general, non-necessarily simple case. His main results are as follows: Let \(R\) be a directly finite regular ring satisfying weak comparability. Then the following properties hold: (1) \(R\) is stably finite; (2) \(R\) satisfies strict cancellation (i.e. if \(A,B,C\) are finitely generated projective modules, then \(A\oplus C\prec B\oplus C\) implies \(A\prec B\)); (c) \(R\) satisfies strict unperforation (i.e. if \(A,B\) are finitely generated projective modules and \(n\) is a positive integer, then \(nA\prec nB\) implies \(A\prec B\)).