Cleanness of overrings of polynomial rings (Q5963155)

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring with identity. \(R\) is called clean (resp. almost clean) if every element in \(R\) is a sum of an idempotent and a unit (resp. a regular element). In this paper, the authors give conditions under which the two overrings \(R(x)\) and \(R\langle x\rangle\) of the ring of polynomials \(R[x]\) are (almost) clean rings. If \(C(f)\) denotes the ideal generated by the coefficients of \(f\), then \(S=\{f\in R[x]|C(f)=R\}\) and \(W=\{f\in R[x]|f\text{ is monic } \}\) are regular multiplicatively closed subsets and one sets \(R\langle x\rangle=W^{-1}R[x]\) and \(R(x)=S^{-1}R[x]\). The authors prove for example that \(R\) is clean if and only if \(R\langle x\rangle\) or \(R(x)\) is clean. Also they prove that \(R\) is an indecomposable almost clean ring, then \(R(x)\) and \(R\langle x\rangle\) are also indecomposable almost clean, should the ring \(R[x]\) satisfy a property (named (*)) \(S^{-1}(P+Q)\cap R[x]=P+Q\) for any prime ideals \(P\) and \(Q\) of \(R[x]\).