Good Matrices: Matrices that Preserve Ideals (Q4390499)

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring with unity. The authors introduce the notion of left good matrices over \(R\): An \(r\times n\), \(r\leq n\), matrix over \(R\) is left good if for every \(r\)-vector \(\mathbf x\) over \(R\), the ideal generated by \({\mathbf x}A\) is the same as the ideal generated by \(\mathbf x\). They find some sufficient and some equivalent conditions for a matrix to be left good. They further show that all these conditions are equivalent if \(R\) is a principal ideal ring. In their main result they show that if \(A\) is an \(r\times n\) matrix over a principal ideal domain then \(A\) is left good iff \(A\) has Smith normal form \([I_r \;0]\), where \(I_r\) denotes the \(r\times r\) identity matrix. Over arbitrary commutative rings the above result still remains open.