The isomorphism problem for incidence rings (Q5906423)

Let \(P\) and \(P'\) denote locally finite preordered sets, \(R\) a ring, and \(I(P,R)\) the incidence algebra of \(P\) over \(R\). The isomorphism problem for incidence rings asks for conditions on the preordered sets and the ring in order that \(I(P,R)\simeq I(P',R)\) implies that \(P\simeq P'\). The authors make an interesting contribution to this problem. They show that when the number of non-zero summands in the direct decomposition of the module \(R_R\) is bounded and \(P\) and \(P'\) are finite preordered sets then the isomorphism problem has a positive answer in this case. Further, they show that the above condition on \(R\) guarantees that the number of right ideals of \(R\) which are direct summands of \(R_R\) is finite, and having only this latter condition on \(R\) gives a positive solution to the isomorphism problem in the case that \(P\) and \(P'\) are finite partially ordered sets. Further they show that the isomorphism problem is not always true for \(R\) a finite dimensional algebra and \(P\) and \(P'\) locally finite partially ordered sets. From the authors' summary: In the addenda it is shown that for a large class of rings (including those with finite right Goldie dimension, semilocal, and many commutative rings), if \(P\) and \(P'\) are finite preordered sets for which there is an isomorphism of incidence rings \(I(P,R)\simeq I(P',R)\), then \(P\simeq P'\).