Euclidean pairs and quasi-Euclidean rings. (Q402430)

The authors study the interplay between quasi-Euclidean properties and matrix properties (such as diagonalization of rectangular matrices and factorization into products of idempotent matrices) over noncommutative unital rings. Their fundamental concept is that of a right Euclidean pair for a ring \(R\), meaning an ordered pair \((a,b)\in R^2\) which has a terminating sequence of divisions with remainders of the form \(a=bq_1+r_1\), \(b=r_1q_2+r_2\), \(r_1=r_2q_3+r_3\),\dots, \(r_{n-1}=r_nq_{n+1}+r_{n+1}\) for some \(q_i,r_i \in R\) with \(r_{n+1}=0\). The ring \(R\) is called right quasi-Euclidean if all ordered pairs in \(R^2\) are right Euclidean. These properties are related to the possibilities that \(R\) is a right K-Hermite ring (for each \((a,b)\in R^2\), there exist \(r\in R\) and \(Q\in GL_2(R)\) such that \((a,b)=(r,0)Q\)), a \(GE_n\) ring (meaning that \(GL_n(R)\) is generated by elementary matrices), or a right Bezout ring (every finitely generated right ideal is principal). The main results include the following: (I) A ring \(R\) is right quasi-Euclidean if and only if it is a \(GE_2\)-ring and a right K-Hermite ring, in which case it is a \(GE_n\)-ring for all \(n\). (II) An integral domain \(R\) is right quasi-Euclidean if and only if \(R\) is a \(GE_2\)-ring, every finitely generated projective right \(R\)-module is free of unique rank, and every matrix \(\left(\begin{smallmatrix} a&b\\ 0&0\end{smallmatrix}\right)\in M_2(R)\) is a product of idempotent matrices. (III) Every matrix ring over a right quasi-Euclidean ring is right quasi-Euclidean. (IV) A left quasi-Euclidean ring is right quasi-Euclidean if and only if it is a right Bezout ring, and a left quasi-Euclidean domain is right quasi-Euclidean if and only if it is a right Ore domain. (V) If \(R\) is a right and left quasi-Euclidean domain, then every matrix in \(M_n(R)\) whose left (or right) annihilator in \(M_n(R)\) is nonzero is a product of idempotent matrices. This generalizes the result for commutative Euclidean domains due to \textit{T. J. Laffey} [Linear Multilinear Algebra 14, 309-314 (1983; Zbl 0526.15008)]. The authors also prove that every unit-regular ring is right and left quasi-Euclidean. In contrast, a famous example of G. Bergman appearing in [\textit{D. Handelman}, J. Algebra 48, 1-16 (1977; Zbl 0363.16009)] is shown to be a right and left quasi-Euclidean, von Neumann regular ring which is not even Dedekind finite (directly finite).