A semiring is an algebraic structure similar to a ring, but without the requirement that each element must have an additive inverse. A bounded semiring is a semiring equipped with a compatible bounded partial order. I...A semiring is an algebraic structure similar to a ring, but without the requirement that each element must have an additive inverse. A bounded semiring is a semiring equipped with a compatible bounded partial order. In this paper, properties of zero divisors and prime elements of a bounded semiring are studied. In particular, it is proved that under some mild assumption, the set Z（A） of nonzero zero divisors of A is A ／ {0, 1}, and each prime element of A is a maximal element. For a bounded semiring A with Z（A） = A ／ {0, 1}, it is proved that A has finitely many maximal elements if ACC holds either for elements of A or for principal annihilating ideals of A. As an application of prime elements, we show that the structure of a bounded semiring A is completely determined by the structure of integral bounded semirings if either ｜Z（A）｜ = 1 or ｜Z（A）｜ -- 2 and Z（A）2 ≠ 0. Applications to the ideal structure of commutative rings are also considered. In particular, when R has a finite number of ideals, it is shown that the chain complex of the poset I（R） is pure and shellable, where I（R） consists of all ideals of R.展开更多
基金Acknowledgements This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China （Grant No. 11271250）.
文摘A semiring is an algebraic structure similar to a ring, but without the requirement that each element must have an additive inverse. A bounded semiring is a semiring equipped with a compatible bounded partial order. In this paper, properties of zero divisors and prime elements of a bounded semiring are studied. In particular, it is proved that under some mild assumption, the set Z（A） of nonzero zero divisors of A is A ／ {0, 1}, and each prime element of A is a maximal element. For a bounded semiring A with Z（A） = A ／ {0, 1}, it is proved that A has finitely many maximal elements if ACC holds either for elements of A or for principal annihilating ideals of A. As an application of prime elements, we show that the structure of a bounded semiring A is completely determined by the structure of integral bounded semirings if either ｜Z（A）｜ = 1 or ｜Z（A）｜ -- 2 and Z（A）2 ≠ 0. Applications to the ideal structure of commutative rings are also considered. In particular, when R has a finite number of ideals, it is shown that the chain complex of the poset I（R） is pure and shellable, where I（R） consists of all ideals of R.
