GCH implies the existence of many rigid almost free abelian groups

We begin with the existence of groups with trivial duals for cardinals aleph_n (n in omega). Then we derive results about strongly aleph_n-free abelian groups of cardinality aleph_n (n in omega) with prescribed free, countable endomorphism ring. Finally we use combinatorial results of [Sh:108], [Sh:141] to give similar answers for cardinals >aleph_omega. As in Magidor and Shelah [MgSh:204], a paper concerned with the existence of kappa-free, non-free abelian groups of cardinality kappa, the induction argument breaks down at aleph_omega. Recall that aleph_omega is the first singular cardinal and such groups of cardinality aleph_omega do not exist by the well-known Singular Compactness Theorem (see [Sh:52])

Generalized E-Algebras via lambda-Calculus I

An R-algebra A is called E(R)-algebra if the canonical homomorphism from A to the endomorphism algebra End_RA of the R-module {}_R A, taking any a in A to the right multiplication a_r in End_R A by a is an isomorphism of algebras. In this case {}_R A is called an E(R)-module. E(R)-algebras come up naturally in various topics of algebra, so it's not surprising that they were investigated thoroughly in the last decade. Despite some efforts it remained an open question whether proper generalized E(R)-algebras exist. These are R-algebras A isomorphic to End_R A but not under the above canonical isomorphism, so not E(R)-algebras. This question was raised about 30 years ago (for R=Z) by Phil Schultz and we will answer it. For PIDs R of characteristic 0 that are neither quotient fields nor complete discrete valuation rings - we will establish the existence of generalized E(R)-algebras. It can be shown that E(R)-algebras over rings R that are complete discrete valuation rings or fields must trivial (copies of R). The main tool is an interesting connection between lambda-calculus (used in theoretical computer sciences) and algebra. It seems reasonable to divide the work into two parts, in this paper we will work in V=L (Godel universe) hence stronger combinatorial methods make the final arguments more transparent. The proof based entirely on ordinary set theory (the axioms of ZFC) will appear in a subsequent paper

Indecomposable almost free modules - the local case

Let R be a countable, principal ideal domain which is not a field and A be a countable R-algebra which is free as an R-module. Then we will construct an aleph_1-free R-module G of rank aleph_1 with endomorphism algebra End_RG=A . Clearly the result does not hold for fields. Recall that an R-module is aleph_1-free if all its countable submodules are free, a condition closely related to Pontryagin's theorem. This result has many consequences, depending on the algebra A in use. For instance, if we choose A=R, then clearly G is an indecomposable `almost free' module. The existence of such modules was unknown for rings with only finitely many primes like R=Z_{(p)}, the integers localized at some prime p. The result complements a classical realization theorem of Corner's showing that any such algebra is an endomorphism algebra of some torsion-free, reduced R-module G of countable rank. Its proof is based on new combinatorial-algebraic techniques related with what we call rigid tree-elements coming from a module generated over a forest of trees

Radicals and Plotkin's problem concerning geometrically equivalent groups

If G and X are groups and N is a normal subgroup of X, then the G-closure of N in X is the normal subgroup X^G= bigcap{kerphi|phi:X-> G, with N subseteq kerphi} of X . In particular, 1^G = R_G X is the G-radical of X. Plotkin calls two groups G and H geometrically equivalent, written G H, if for any free group F of finite rank and any normal subgroup N of F the G-closure and the H-closure of N in F are the same. Quasiidentities are formulas of the form (bigwedge_{i w =1) for any words w, w_i (i<=n) in a free group. Generally geometrically equivalent groups satisfy the same quasiidentiies. Plotkin showed that nilpotent groups G and H satisfy the same quasiidenties if and only if G and H are geometrically equivalent. Hence he conjectured that this might hold for any pair of groups. We provide a counterexample

Localizations of Groups

A group homomorphism eta:A-> H is called a localization of A if every homomorphism phi:A-> H can be `extended uniquely' to a homomorphism Phi:H-> H in the sense that Phi eta = phi. This categorical concepts, obviously not depending on the notion of groups, extends classical localizations as known for rings and modules. Moreover this setting has interesting applications in homotopy theory. For localizations eta:A-> H of (almost) commutative structures A often H resembles properties of A, e.g. size or satisfying certain systems of equalities and non-equalities. Perhaps the best known example is that localizations of finite abelian groups are finite abelian groups. This is no longer the case if A is a finite (non-abelian) group. Libman showed that A_n-> SO_{n-1}(R) for a natural embedding of the alternating group A_n is a localization if n even and n >= 10 . Answering an immediate question by Dror Farjoun and assuming the generalized continuum hypothesis GCH we recently showed in math.LO/9912191 that any non-abelian finite simple has arbitrarily large localizations. In this paper we want to remove GCH so that the result becomes valid in ordinary set theory. At the same time we want to generalize the statement for a larger class of A 's

On Crawley Modules

This continues recent work in a paper by Corner, Gobel and Goldsmith. A particular question was left open: Is it possible to carry over the results concerning the undecidability of torsion--free Crawley groups to modules over the ring of p-adic integers? We will confirm this and also strengthen one of the older results in by replacing the hypothesis of diamondsuit by CH

Endomorphism rings of modules whose cardinality is cofinal to omega

The main result is Theorem: Let A be an R-algebra, mu, lambda be cardinals such that |A|<=mu=mu^{aleph_0}<lambda<=2^mu. If A is aleph_0-cotorsion-free or A is countably free, respectively, then there exists an aleph_0-cotorsion-free or a separable (reduced, torsion-free) R-module G respectively of cardinality |G|=lambda with End_RG=A oplus Fin G

Characterizing automorphism groups of ordered abelian groups

We characterize the groups isomorphic to full automorphism groups of ordered abelian groups. The result will follow from classical theorems on ordered groups adding an argument from proofs used to realize rings as endomorphism rings of abelian groups

Absolutely Indecomposable Modules

A module is called absolutely indecomposable if it is directly indecomposable in every generic extension of the universe. We want to show the existence of large abelian groups that are absolutely indecomposable. This will follow from a more general result about R-modules over a large class of commutative rings R with endomorphism ring R which remains the same when passing to a generic extension of the universe. It turns out that `large' in this context has the precise meaning, namely being smaller then the first omega-Erdos cardinal defined below. We will first apply result on large rigid trees with a similar property established by Shelah in 1982, and will prove the existence of related ` R_omega-modules' (R-modules with countably many distinguished submodules) and finally pass to R-modules. The passage through R_omega-modules has the great advantage that the proofs become very transparent essentially using a few `linear algebra' arguments accessible also for graduate students. The result gives a new construction of indecomposable modules in general using a counting argument

Reflexive subgroups of the Baer-Specker group and Martin's axiom

In two recent papers (math.LO/0003164 and math.LO/0003165) we answered a question raised in the book by Eklof and Mekler (p. 455, Problem 12) under the set theoretical hypothesis of diamondsuit_{aleph_1} which holds in many models of set theory, respectively of the special continuum hypothesis (CH). The objects are reflexive modules over countable principal ideal domains R, which are not fields. Following H.Bass, an R-module G is reflexive if the evaluation map s:G ---> G^{**} is an isomorphism. Here G^*=Hom(G,R) denotes the dual module of G. We proved the existence of reflexive R-modules G of infinite rank with G not cong G+R, which provide (even essentially indecomposable) counter examples to the question mentioned above. Is CH a necessary condition to find `nasty' reflexive modules? In the last part of this paper we will show (assuming the existence of supercompact cardinals) that large reflexive modules always have large summands. So at least being essentially indecomposable needs an additional set theoretic assumption. However the assumption need not be CH as shown in the first part of this paper. We will use Martin's axiom to find reflexive modules with the above decomposition which are submodules of the Baer-Specker module R^omega