The cancellable range of rings. (Q2572617)

The authors introduce a ring-theoretic condition which generalizes both stable range one and the property of being a principal ideal domain, while implying cancellation in certain direct sums of modules. By their definition, a positive integer \(n\) is said to lie in the (right) cancellable range of a ring \(R\) provided that for any elements \(a_i,b_i\in R\) satisfying \(a_0b_0+a_1b_1+\cdots+a_nb_n=1\), there exist elements \(a_1',y_1,\dots,a_n',y_n\in R\) and a central non-zero-divisor \(a\in R\) such that \(a_i=aa_i'\) for \(i=1,\dots,n\); the element \(a_0+ a_1'y_1+\cdots+a_n'y_n\) is left invertible in \(R\); and any \(x_0\in R\) with \(a_0x_0\in aR\) must lie in \(aR\). The main theorem of the paper shows that if \(R\) satisfies the above condition, then \(R\oplus B\cong R\oplus C\) implies \(B\cong C\) for right \(R\)-modules \(B\) and \(C\) when \(B\) is \(n\)-generated. It is also proved that if \(R\) is right Noetherian and if all positive integers are in the right cancellable range of \(R\), then \(R\) cancels from direct sums of arbitrary right \(R\)-modules.