Outer Galois theory of prime rings (Q794753)

An outer Galois theory for prime rings can be obtained as a special case of the Galois theory developed by \textit{V. K. Kharchenko} [Algebra Logika 16, 313-363 (1977; Zbl 0397.16037)] for semiprime rings. The authors, however, give a direct derivation of the Galois correspondence in this case. An automorphism \(\sigma\) of a prime ring R is called X-inner if the unique extension of \(\sigma\) to the Martindale ring of quotients is inner. The authors prove that an automorphism \(\sigma\) is X-inner if, and only if, there exist nonzero elements a, a', b and b' of R such that \(a\cdot r\cdot b'=b\cdot \sigma(r)\cdot a'\) for every element r of R. They develop their Galois theory through the study of trace forms, which are functions defined on R by a rule: \(T(x)=\sum^{n}_{i=1}a_ i\cdot \sigma_ i(x)\cdot b_ i\) where the \(\sigma_ i\) are automorphisms of R, but the \(a_ i\) and \(b_ i\) may be any elements of the Martindale ring of quotients. When the trace form T is such that, for some subscript j, \(a_ j\neq 0\), \(b_ j\neq 0\), and \(\sigma_ j^{-1}\sigma_ i\) is X-outer (i.e., not X-inner) for all \(i\neq j\), then \(T(I)\neq 0\) for any nonzero ideal I of R. This result represents a strong condition of independence for X-outer automorphisms. Now let G be a finite group of X-outer automorphisms, except for the identity automorphism, of course, of a prime ring R; let \(R^ G\) denote the fixed ring of G; and let S be a subring such that \(R^ G\subseteq S\subseteq R.\) It is shown that S is a prime ring, every monomorphism of S into R which fixes \(R^ G\) is the restriction of an element of G, and \(S=R^ H\) for some subgroup H of G if and only if S is an ideal cancellable subring of R in the sense that I\(r\leq S\) for a nonzero ideal I of S and an element r of R implies that r is an element of S. The Galois correspondence is a one-to-one correspondence between subgroups of G and ideal cancellable subrings S such that \(R^ G\subseteq S\subseteq R\).