Unit lifting morphisms (Q2674677)

For two rings \(R\) and \(S\), a ring morphism \(f : R \rightarrow S\) is called unit lifting if, for every \(r \in R\), there exists an invertible element \(u\) in \(R\) such that \(f (u) = f (r)\) whenever \(f (r)\) is invertible in \(S\). This is a natural generalization of local morphism, a morphism \(f : R \rightarrow S\) that maps non-units to non-units. In this paper, the authors introduce the concept of a unit lifting morphism, provide several examples and investigate many of its properties and interrelations with local morphisms and unit lifting ideals. Moreover, a relation between a unit lifting morphism \(f : R \rightarrow S\) of rings and the pair \((\ker( f ), f^{ -1}(U(S)))\), where \(U(S)\) is the group of units of the ring \(S\), is established and it is shown that unit lifting morphisms correspond to the least element of a partially ordered set. As a main result, the equivalent conditions on the existence of a unit lifting morphism from a ring \(R\) into a semisimple Artinian ring, which is intimately related to a deep result by \textit{R. Camps} and \textit{W. Dicks} [Isr. J. Math. 81, No. 1--2, 203--211 (1993; Zbl 0802.16010), Theorem 1] that characterizes semilocal rings in terms of local morphisms, is provided. This result gives rise to the study of a new class of rings, which is named as weakly semilocal rings.