Torsion free modules (Q923685)

A module M over some ring R is called torsion free or nonsingular, if its singular submodule Z(M) is zero. (Recall that Z(M) consists of all elements of M annihilated by an essential right ideal of R.) The category of torsion free injective modules has been thoroughly explored by \textit{K. R. Goodearl} and \textit{A. K. Boyle} [Dimension theory for nonsingular injective modules (Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 177, 1976; Zbl 0335.16024)] as follows. Having noticed that the torsion free injective modules can be considered as modules over a suitable von Neumann regular injective ring, they could apply all the results known for modules over such rings. In the present article, a more direct approach is proposed. The class of torsion free modules is partitioned into equivalence classes, called types, according to a very natural equivalence relation. The set of all types constitutes a complete Boolean lattice \(\Xi\) (R). This lattice admits a direct decomposition \(\Xi (R)=\Xi_ D(R)\oplus \Xi_{CA}(R)\oplus \Xi_{CB}(R)\) into complete and convex sublattices, where \(\Xi_ D(R)\) consists of the types of discrete modules, \(\Xi_{CA}(R)\) of the types of continuous modules M such that each nontrivial submodule of M contains a submodule whose type is an atom, and \(\Xi_{CB}(R)\) of the types of continuous modules without submodule whose type is an atom. (Recall that a module is called discrete, if it contains an essential direct sum of uniform submodules, and continuous if it contains no uniform submodule.) Accordingly each torsion free injective module M can be decomposed in the form \(M=M_ D\oplus M_{CA}\oplus M_{CB}\). Furthermore, it is shown that with a suitable choice of morphisms of rings resp. lattices, \(\Xi\) is a functor, and that \(\Xi\) (R) can also be interpreted as a lattice of ideals of R. The paper concludes with a number of illustrating examples and several comments on the difference between the decomposition theories in the present work and in that of Goodearl and Boyle.