A semigroup-theoretical view of direct-sum decompositions and associated combinatorial problems

TL;DR

This paper explores the structure of direct-sum decompositions of modules using semigroup theory, particularly Krull monoids, and applies zero-sum methods to analyze their arithmetic properties.

Contribution

It introduces a semigroup-theoretical framework for module decompositions and applies zero-sum theory to study their algebraic and arithmetic structure in new contexts.

Findings

$ ext{V}( ext{C})$ is a reduced commutative semigroup capturing module decomposition info.

When $ ext{V}( ext{C})$ is Krull with finitely generated class group, zero-sum methods analyze its arithmetic.

Application to modules over Pr"ufer and hereditary Noetherian prime rings.

Abstract

Let $R$ be a ring and let $\mathcal C$ be a small class of right $R$-modules which is closed under finite direct sums, direct summands, and isomorphisms. Let $\mathcal V (\mathcal C)$ denote a set of representatives of isomorphism classes in $\mathcal C$ and, for any module $M$ in $\mathcal C$, let $[M]$ denote the unique element in $\mathcal V (\mathcal C)$ isomorphic to $M$. Then $\mathcal V (\mathcal C)$ is a reduced commutative semigroup with operation defined by $[M] + [N] = [M \oplus N]$, and this semigroup carries all information about direct-sum decompositions of modules in $\mathcal C$. This semigroup-theoretical point of view has been prevalent in the theory of direct-sum decompositions since it was shown that if $\operatorname{End}_R (M)$ is semilocal for all $M\in \mathcal C$, then $\mathcal V (\mathcal C)$ is a Krull monoid. Suppose that the monoid $\mathcal V (\mathcal C)$ is Krull with a finitely generated class group (for example, when $\mathcal C$ is the class of finitely generated torsion-free modules and $R$ is a one-dimensional reduced Noetherian local ring). In this case we study the arithmetic of $\mathcal V (\mathcal C)$ using new methods from zero-sum theory. Furthermore, based on module-theoretic work of Lam, Levy, Robson, and others we study the algebraic and arithmetic structure of the monoid $\mathcal V (\mathcal C)$ for certain classes of modules over Pr\"ufer rings and hereditary Noetherian prime rings.