Module braces: relations between the additive and the multiplicative groups (Q6046857)

A \textit{(left) brace} is a set \(N = (N,+,\circ)\) equipped two group operations \(+\) and \(\circ\) such that \((N,+)\) is abelian and the relation \[ x \circ (y + z) = (x \circ y) -x + (x\circ z) \] holds for all \(x,y,z\in N\). This algebraic structure was introduced by [\textit{W. Rump}, J. Algebra 307, No. 1, 153--170 (2007; Zbl 1115.16022)] as a generalization of radical rings. It is well-known that \[ \gamma : (N,\circ) \rightarrow \mathrm{Aut}(N,+);\,\ \gamma_x (y) =-x + (x\circ y) \] yields a well-defined group homomorphism, and by setting \[ N_\gamma = \{ (x,\gamma_x) : x \in N\}, \] one obtains a one-to-one correspondence between the group operations \(\circ\) on \(N\) for which \((N,+,\circ)\) is a brace and the regular subgroups \(N_\gamma\) contained in the (abstract) holomorph \(\mathrm{Hol}(N,+)\) of the group \((N,+)\). In the paper under review, the author introduces the notion of a \textit{(left) \(R\)-module brace} over a ring \(R\), which is defined to be a brace \(N=(N,+,\circ)\) such that \((N,+)\) is equipped with the structure of a (left) \(R\)-module and the elements of \(\gamma(N)\) are \(R\)-module homomorphisms for the associated gamma function defined above. Note that module braces over \(\mathbb{Z}\) are simply braces, and module braces over a field \(\mathbb{F}\) have been previously considered in the literature; see [\textit{A. Smoktunowicz}, J. Algebra 594, 202--229 (2022; Zbl 1505.16066)], for example. The author shows that the class of \(R\)-module braces is very natural as it enjoys many of the basic properties that one can expect. In the case of finite braces \(N=(N,+,\circ)\), the following are known by [\textit{N. P. Byott}, J. Algebra 381, 131--139 (2013; Zbl 1345.12002)] and [\textit{S. C. Featherstonhaugh} et al., Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 364, No. 7, 3675--3684 (2012; Zbl 1287.12002)], respectively. \begin{itemize} \item If \((N,\circ)\) is nilpotent, then the Sylow subgroups of \((N,+)\) are ideals of \(N\), so the decomposition of \((N,+)\) as a sum of its Sylow subgroups is also a decomposition of \(N\) as a brace. \item If the order of \(N\) is a power of a prime \(p\) and the rank of \((N,+)\) is less than \(p-1\), then \((N,+)\) and \((N,\circ)\) have the same number of elements of each order. \end{itemize} The author is able to generalize the first result to \(R\)-module braces when \(R\) is a commutative unital ring (Proposition 3.7), and the second result to \(R\)-module braces when \(R\) is a PID in which \(p\) is prime (Theorem 4.1). The latter generalization has advantage over the previously known result because the \(R\)-rank of \((N,+)\) could be much smaller than the \(\mathbb{Z}\)-rank of \((N,+)\). Here \textit{rank} refers to the number of cyclic factors when the module is decomposed as a direct sum of indecomposable cyclic modules.