On unique factorization domains (Q5894341)

An integral domain \(R\) is a half factorial domain (HFD for short) if each nonzero and nonunit in \(R\) can be factored into a finite number of irreducibles and any two such factorizations have the same number of elements. That is if \(\alpha_{1}\alpha_{2}\dots\alpha_{n}=\beta_{1}\beta_{2}\dots \beta_{m}\) with \(\alpha_{i}, \alpha_{j}\) are irreducible in \(R\) then \(n=m\). The domain \(R\) is said to be other half factorial (OHFD for short) if each nonzero and nonunit in \(R\) can be factored into irreducible elements of different lengths, but for any given positive integer \(n\) there is only one factorization of length \(n\). That is if \(\alpha_{1}\alpha_{2}\dots \alpha_{n}=\beta_{1}\beta_{2}\dots \beta_{m}\) with \(\alpha_{i},\beta_{j}\) are irreducible in \(R\), then there is a \(\sigma \in S_{n}\) such that \(\alpha_{i}=u_{i}\beta_{\sigma{( i )}}\) for all \(1\leq 1 \leq n\) where each \(u_{i}\) is a unit in \(R\). The main result of the paper asserts that if R is an OHFD then it is a HFD. Consequently, it follows that R is an OHFD if and only if it is a UFD. This reduces the two conditions of the standard definition of a UFD to a single one.