Artinian ring

In abstract algebra, an Artinian ring is a ring that satisfies the descending chain condition on ideals. They are also called Artin rings and are named after Emil Artin, who first discovered that the descending chain condition for ideals simultaneously generalizes finite rings and rings that are finite-dimensional vector spaces over fields. The definition of Artinian rings may be restated by interchanging the descending chain condition with an equivalent notion: the minimum condition.

A ring is left Artinian if it satisfies the descending chain condition on left ideals, right Artinian if it satisfies the descending chain condition on right ideals, and Artinian or two-sided Artinian if it is both left and right Artinian. For commutative rings the left and right definitions coincide, but in general they are distinct from each other.

The Artin–Wedderburn theorem characterizes all simple Artinian rings as the matrix rings over a division ring. This implies that a simple ring is left Artinian if and only if it is right Artinian.

Although the descending chain condition appears dual to the ascending chain condition, in rings it is in fact the stronger condition. Specifically, a consequence of the Akizuki–Hopkins–Levitzki theorem is that a left (right) Artinian ring is automatically a left (right) Noetherian ring. This is not true for general modules, that is, an Artinian module need not be a Noetherian module.

Examples

• An Artinian integral domain is a field.
• A ring with finitely many, say left, ideals is left Artinian. In particular, a finite ring (e.g., $\mathbb {Z} /n\mathbb {Z}$) is left and right Artinian.
• Let k be a field. Then $k[t]/(t^{n})$ is Artinian for every positive integer n.
• If I is a nonzero ideal of a Dedekind domain A, then $A/I$ is a principal Artinian ring.
• For each $n\geq 1$, the full matrix ring $M_{n}(R)$ over a left Artinian (resp. left Noetherian) ring R is left Artinian (resp. left Noetherian).

The ring of integers $\mathbb {Z}$ is a Noetherian ring but is not Artinian.

Commutative Artinian rings

Let A be a commutative Noetherian ring with unity. Then the following are equivalent.

• A is Artinian.
• A is a finite product of commutative Artinian local rings.
• A / nil(A) is a semisimple ring, where nil(A) is the nilradical of A.
• A has dimension zero.
• $\operatorname {Spec} A$ is finite and discrete.
• $\operatorname {Spec} A$ is discrete.

Let k be a field and A finitely generated k-algebra. Then A is Artinian if and only if A is finitely generated as k-module.

An Artinian local ring is complete. A quotient and localization of an Artinian ring is Artinian.

See also

• Artin algebra
• Artinian ideal
• Serial module
• Semiperfect ring

References

• Auslander, Maurice; Reiten, Idun; Smalø, Sverre O. (1995), Representation theory of Artin algebras, Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics, vol. 36, Cambridge University Press, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511623608, ISBN 978-0-521-41134-9, MR 1314422
• Charles Hopkins. Rings with minimal condition for left ideals. Ann. of Math. (2) 40, (1939). 712–730.
• Atiyah, Michael Francis; Macdonald, I.G. (1969), Introduction to Commutative Algebra, Westview Press, ISBN 978-0-201-40751-8
• Cohn, Paul Moritz (2003). Basic algebra: groups, rings, and fields. Springer. ISBN 978-1-85233-587-8.