When is the complement of the zero-divisor graph of a commutative ring planar? (Q2435203)

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring with identity, let \(Z(R)\) denote the set of all zero-divisors of \(R\), and assume that \(R\) admits at least two elements \(a,b\in Z(R)\) such that \(ab\neq 0\). As it is well known, the zero-divisor graph \(\Gamma(R)\) of \(R\) is defined to be the graph whose vertex set is \(Z(R)^*:=Z(R)-\{0\}\) and distinct elements \(x,y\in Z(R)^*\) are joined by an edge if and only if \(xy=0\). Let \(\Gamma(R)^c\) denote the so called complement graph of \(\Gamma(R)\), i.e., the graph defined by taking \(Z(R)^*\) as the vertex set and making two vertices \(a,b\) adjacent in \(\Gamma(R)^c\) if and only if \(ab\neq 0\) (that is, if \(a,b\) are not adjacent in \(\Gamma(R)\)). The aim of the paper under review is to study when the graph \(\Gamma(R)^{c}\) is planar (i.e., \(\Gamma(R)^{c}\) can be drown in a plane in such a way that no two edges of \(\Gamma(R)^c\) intersect in a point other than a vertex of \(\Gamma(R)^c\)). The author first relates the graph structure of \(\Gamma(R)^c\) with the ideal theoretic structure of \(R\) and proves that, if \(\Gamma(R)^c\) is planar, then the set \[ \mathcal N_R:=\{\mathfrak p\in \text{Spec}(R):\mathfrak p \subseteq Z(R) \} \] admits at most three maximal elements. For any \(i\in\{1,2,3\}\), a precise description of when \(|\text{Max}(\mathcal N_R)|=i\) and \(\Gamma(R)^c\) is planar is presented.