Torsion-free groups and modules with the involution property. (Q856339)

A classical problem in module theory is to determine when every endomorphism of a module is a sum of automorphisms, eventually with some special properties. In the present paper the authors study modules (torsion-free Abelian groups) with the involution property. A module \(G\) has `the involution property' if every endomorphism of \(G\) is a sum of two automorphisms, one of which is an involution (i.e. its square is the identity). In the first section basic properties are proved. It is in Proposition 1.2 that if \(G\) has the involution property then the endomorphism ring of \(G\) is clean (i.e. every endomorphism is a sum of a unit and an idempotent), and the converse is true if \(2\) is an automorphism. The main result of this section is Theorem 1.5: A free \(R\)-module has the involution property if and only if \(R\) has the property. Section 2 is dedicated to completely decomposable groups (i.e. direct sums of rational groups). It is proved that a complete decomposable group \(G\) has the involution property if and only if \(G=\mathbb{Q}^{(k)}\oplus(\bigoplus_{p\in P}G_p)\), where \(k\) is a cardinal, \(P\) is a set of primes \(p\neq 2\), and each \(G_p\) is a direct sum of copies of \(\mathbb{Z}\) localized at the prime \(p\) (Corollary 2.9). In Section 3 the authors study \(p\)-adic modules with the involution property, \(p\neq 2\). The main results are Theorem 3.5: A torsion-free complete \(p\)-adic module has the involution property if and only if \(p\neq 2\); and Theorem 3.8: A free \(p\)-adic module, \(p\neq 2\), has the involution property if and only if it is of finite rank.