Lectures on Modules and Rings

Textbook writing must be one of the cruelest of self-inflicted tortures. - Carl Faith Math Reviews 54: 5281 So why didn't I heed the warning of a wise colleague, especially one who is a great expert in the subject of modules and rings? The answer is simple: I did not learn about it until it was too late! My writing project in ring theory started in 1983 after I taught a year-long course in the subject at Berkeley. My original plan was to write up my lectures and publish them as a graduate text in a couple of years. My hopes of carrying out this plan on schedule were, however, quickly dashed as I began to realize how much material was at hand and how little time I had at my disposal. As the years went by, I added further material to my notes, and used them to teach different versions of the course. Eventually, I came to the realization that writing a single volume would not fully accomplish my original goal of giving a comprehensive treatment of basic ring theory. At the suggestion of Ulrike Schmickler-Hirzebruch, then Mathematics Editor of Springer-Verlag, I completed the first part of my project and published the write up in 1991 as A First Course in Noncommutative Rings, GTM 131, hereafter referred to as First Course (or simply FC).

This is the long awaited sequel to Lam's earlier GTM 131 "A First Course in Noncommutative Ring Theory" and is intended to be used for lecturing, seminar- and self-study, and for general reference. It is focused more on specific topics in order to introduce the reader to a wealth of basic and useful ideas without the hindrance of heavy machinery or undue abstractions. This volume is particularly user- friendly with its abundance of examples illustrating the theory virtually at every step.

1 Free Modules, Projective, and Injective Modules.- 1. Free Modules.- 2. Projective Modules.- 3. Injective Modules.- 31. Matlis' Theory.- 2 Flat Modules and Homological Dimensions.- 4. Flat and Faithfully Flat Modules.- 41. Faithfully Flat Modules.- 5. Homological Dimensions.- 3 More Theory of Modules.- 6. Uniform Dimensions, Complements, and CS Modules.- 7. Singular Submodules and Nonsingular Rings.- 8. Dense Submodules and Rational Hulls.- 4 Rings of Quotients.- 9. Noncommutative Localization.- 10. Classical Rings of Quotients.- 11. Right Goldie Rings and Goldie's Theorems.- 12. Artinian Rings of Quotients.- 5 More Rings of Quotients.- 13. Maximal Rings of Quotients.- 14. Martindale Rings of Quotients.- 6 Frobenius and Quasi-Frobenius Rings.- 15. Quasi-Frobenius Rings.- 16. Frobenius Rings and Symmetric Algebras.- 7 Matrix Rings, Categories of Modules, and Morita Theory.- 17. Matrix Rings.- 18. Morita Theory of Category Equivalences.- 19. Morita Duality Theory.- References.- Name Index.