Quasi-Duo Skew Polynomial Rings

A characterization of right (left) quasi-duo skew polynomial rings of endomorphism type and skew Laurent polynomial rings are given. In particular, it is shown that (1) the polynomial ring R[x] is right quasi-duo iff R[x] is commutative modulo its Jacobson radical iff R[x] is left quasi-duo, (2) the skew Laurent polynomial ring is right quasi-duo iff it is left quasi-duo. These extend some known results concerning a description of quasi-duo polynomial rings and give a partial answer to the question posed by Lam and Dugas whether right quasi-duo rings are left quasi-duo

Parameter test ideals of Cohen Macaulay rings

We describe an algorithm for computing parameter-test-ideals in certain local Cohen-Macaulay rings. The algorithm is based on the study of a Frobenius map on the injective hull of the residue field of the ring and on the application of Rodney Sharp's notion of ``special ideals''. Our techniques also provide an algorithm for computing indices of nilpotency of Frobenius actions on top local cohomology modules of the ring and on the injective hull of its residue field. The study of nilpotent elements on injective hulls of residue fields also yields a great simplification of the proof of the fact that for a power series ring $R$ of prime characteristic, for all nonzero $f\in R$, $1/f$ generates $R_f$ as a $D_R$-module.Comment: 16 pages To appear in Compositio Mathematic