Rings in which elements are sums of tripotents and nilpotents

A ring [Formula: see text] is strongly 2-nil-clean if every element in [Formula: see text] is the sum of a tripotent and a nilpotent that commute. We prove that a ring [Formula: see text] is strongly 2-nil-clean if and only if [Formula: see text] is a strongly feebly clean 2-UU ring if and only if [Formula: see text] is an exchange 2-UU ring. Furthermore, we characterize strongly 2-nil-clean ring via involutions. We show that a ring [Formula: see text] is strongly 2-nil-clean if and only if every element in [Formula: see text] is the sum of an idempotent, an involution and a nilpotent that commute.

Conjugate (nil) clean rings and Köthe’s problem

Question 3 of [3] asks whether the matrix ring [Formula: see text] is nil clean, for any nil clean ring [Formula: see text]. It is shown that, positive answer to this question is equivalent to positive solution for Köthe’s problem in the class of algebras over the field [Formula: see text]. Other equivalent problems are also discussed. The classes of conjugate clean and conjugate nil clean rings, which lie strictly between uniquely (nil) clean and (nil) clean rings are introduced and investigated.

A note on commutative weakly nil clean rings

In this paper we discuss some properties of abelian (weakly) nil clean rings. We prove that any subring of an abelian (weakly) nil clean ring is (weakly) nil clean (Theorem 2). We also show that the tensor product of commutative (weakly) nil clean rings is also (weakly) nil clean and give sufficient conditions for the converse to be true (Theorems 3–6).

Rings in which every element is either a sum or a difference of a nilpotent and an idempotent

Generalizing the notion of nil-cleanness from [A. J. Diesl, Nil clean rings, J. Algebra 383 (2013) 197–211], in parallel to [P. V. Danchev and W. Wm. McGovern, Commutative weakly nil clean unital rings, J. Algebra 425 (2015) 410–422], we define the concept of weak nil-cleanness for an arbitrary ring. Its comprehensive study in different ways is provided as well. A decomposition theorem of a weakly nil-clean ring is obtained. It is completely characterized when an abelian ring is weakly nil-clean. It is also completely determined when a matrix ring over a division ring is weakly nil-clean.

Nil-clean group rings

An element [Formula: see text] of a ring [Formula: see text] is nil-clean, if [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] is a nilpotent element, and the ring [Formula: see text] is called nil-clean if each of its elements is nil-clean. In [W. Wm. McGovern, S. Raja and A. Sharp, Commutative nil clean group rings, J. Algebra Appl. 14(6) (2015) 5; Article ID: 1550094], it was proved that, for a commutative ring [Formula: see text] and an abelian group [Formula: see text], the group ring [Formula: see text] is nil-clean, iff [Formula: see text] is nil-clean and [Formula: see text] is a [Formula: see text]-group. Here, we discuss the nil-cleanness of group rings in general situation. We prove that the group ring of a locally finite [Formula: see text]-group over a nil-clean ring is nil-clean, and that the hypercenter of the group [Formula: see text] must be a [Formula: see text]-group if a group ring of [Formula: see text] is nil-clean. Consequently, the group ring of a nilpotent group over an arbitrary ring is nil-clean, iff the ring is a nil-clean ring and the group is a [Formula: see text]-group.

Commutative nil clean group rings

In [A. J. Diesl, Classes of strongly clean rings, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkely (2006); Nil clean rings, J. Algebra383 (2013) 197–211], a nil clean ring was defined as a ring for which every element is the sum of a nilpotent and an idempotent. In this short paper, we characterize nil clean commutative group rings.

A nil-clean 2 × 2 matrix over the integers which is not clean

While any nil-clean ring is clean, the last eight years, it was not known whether nil-clean elements in a ring are clean. We give an example of nil-clean element in the matrix ring ℳ2(Z) which is not clean.

USING IDEALS TO PROVIDE A UNIFIED APPROACH TO UNIQUELY CLEAN RINGS

In this article, we introduce the notion of the uniquely $I$-clean ring and show that, if $R$ is a ring and $I$ is an ideal of $R$ then $R$ is uniquely $I$-clean if and only if ($R/ I$ is Boolean and idempotents lift uniquely modulo $I$) if and only if (for each $a\in R$ there exists a central idempotent $e\in R$ such that $e- a\in I$ and $I$ is idempotent-free). We examine when ideal extension is uniquely clean relative to an ideal. Also we obtain conditions on a ring $R$ and an ideal $I$ of $R$ under which uniquely $I$-clean rings coincide with uniquely clean rings. Further we prove that a ring $R$ is uniquely nil-clean if and only if ($N(R)$ is an ideal of $R$ and $R$ is uniquely $N(R)$-clean) if and only if $R$ is both uniquely clean and nil-clean if and only if ($R$ is an abelian exchange ring with $J(R)$ nil and every quasiregular element is uniquely clean). We also show that $R$ is a uniquely clean ring such that every prime ideal of $R$ is maximal if and only if $R$ is uniquely nil-clean ring and $N(R)= {\mathrm{Nil} }_{\ast } (R)$.