NEAR-RINGS OF HOMOGENEOUS MAPS (Q4236490)

The author considers the following situation: \(V\) is a unital \(R\)-module, \(R\) being a ring, and \({\mathcal M}_R(V)\) is the right zero-symmetric near-ring of all maps from \(V\) to \(V\), commuting with the action of \(R\), with pointwise addition and composition of functions. \textit{C. J. Maxson} and \textit{K. C. Smith} started the study of such near-rings [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 80, 189-195 (1980; Zbl 0454.16022)]; they and others continued this work. This paper in particular carries on from the work of \textit{J. Hausen} and \textit{J. A. Johnson} [J. Aust. Math. Soc., Ser. A 59, No. 2, 173-183 (1995; Zbl 0852.16032)]. They classified torsionfree modules \(V\) over integral domains \(R\) such that \({\mathcal M}_R(V)\) is the endomorphism ring of \(V\), and also such that \({\mathcal M}_R(V)\) is a ring. The author extends these considerations to more general rings, particularly when \(R\) is a commutative Artinian ring. He considers in detail torsionfree modules over integral domains, and obtains conditions under which \({\mathcal M}_R(V)\) is commutative if \(R\) is a commutative ring.