Projective modules with prime endomorphism rings (Q760483)

An R-module P is defined to be p.p. if P and all its cyclic submodules are projective. The paper starts with some results concerning the primeness of endomorphism rings of projective modules. For example, if the \(P_ i\) are indecomposable cyclic p.p. modules and S is the endomorphism ring of the direct sum of the \(P_ i\), then S is prime if and only if for all i and j there is a non-zero homomorphism from \(P_ i\) to \(P_ j\). Also if R is Noetherian and P is an indecomposable p.p. module then End(P) is prime. These results are used to extend the reviewer's decomposition theorem for Noetherian p.p. rings as follows. Let R be a Noetherian ring and let P be a finitely-generated p.p. R- module, then End(P) is a direct sum of Artinian rings and prime Noetherian rings; a precise description of the structure of End(P) is given in terms of the indecomposable direct summands of P. If, in addition, every submodule of P is projective then End(P) is a direct sum of hereditary Noetherian prime rings and Artinian hereditary rings.