Chain and distributive coalgebras. (Q995618)

A coalgebra \(C\) is called distributive if it has a distributive lattice of right (or, equivalently, left) coideals. \(C\) is called a right chain coalgebra if it is uniserial as a right \(C\)-comodule. The authors classify distributive coalgebras \(C\) over a field \(k\) by showing that the following are equivalent: (a) \(C\) is a distributive coalgebra; (b) \(C\) is a coproduct of right chain coalgebras; (c) \(C^*\) is isomorphic to a direct product of left uniserial rings; (d) \(C^*\) is a left distributive ring. Chain coalgebras are shown to be coreflexive, and they are characterized as finite duals of Noetherian chain rings whose residue field is a finite dimensional division algebra over \(k\). Examples of chain coalgebras are produced from finite dimensional division algebras by a cotensor algebra construction. If \(k\) is a perfect field, it is shown that any infinite dimensional chain coalgebra arises in this way. Finite duals of power series rings with coefficients in a finite dimensional division algebra are other examples of chain coalgebras, and their role in the theory is investigated.