Pseudo-valuation modules (Q331585)

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring with identity and \(M\) be a unitary \(R\)-module. A proper submodule \(N\) of \(M\) with \((N:M)=P\) is called prime or \(P\)-prime, when from \(rm\in N\) we can deduce that either \(r\in P\) or \(m\in N\) for each \(r\in R\) and \(m\in M\). In this paper a prime submodule \(N\) of \(M\) is called strongly prime, if for each \(r\in R\) and \(m\in M\), the submodules \(rN\) and \(Rm\) are comparable. Also \(M\) is said to be a pseudo-valuation module, when every prime submodule of \(M\) is strongly prime. These notions generalize the concepts of strongly prime ideals and pseudo-valuation rings introduced in [\textit{A. Badawi} et al., Lect. Notes Pure Appl. Math. 185, 57--67 (1997; Zbl 0880.13011)]. In this research basic properties of strongly prime submodules and pseudo-valuation modules are studied. In particular, it is proved that if \(N\) is a strongly prime submodule, then \(N=(N:M)M\). Assume that \(M\) is a pseudo-valuation module. It is shown that the set of prime submodules of \(M\) forms a chain under inclusion. Also it is proved that if \(M\) has a maximal submodule, for example, if \(M\) is finitely generated or a multiplication module (that is, every submodule of \(M\) is of the form \(IM\) for an ideal \(I\) of \(R\)), then \(M\) is a cyclic module. Moreover, the authors show that \(M\) is a Top-module, that is, the family \(\xi(M)=\{\mathrm{V}(N)\mid N\leq M\}\), where \(\mathrm{V}(N)\) denotes the set of all prime submodules of \(M\) containing \(N\), is closed under finite unions and hence is the family of the closed sets of a topology on the set of prime submodules of \(M\). They also show that this topological space is \(T_0\) and irreducible and investigate some other properties of this space.