A commutative local ring with finite global dimension and zero divisors

Abstract

It is well known that a commutative, local, noetherian ring (with 1) of finite global dimension must be a domain (indeed a regular local ring). For commutative local rings which are coherent or have linearly ordered ideals, finite global dimension also implies no proper zero divisors (see [6] and [7]). In this note we show that these results cannot be generalized to arbitrary commutative local rings. An example is given of a ring with global dimension 3 possessing a localization which is not a domain. This ring also has weak global dimension 2, these dimensions being the smallest possible in local rings with zero divisors. Some results on homological dimension of ideals generated by two elements in C(R), the ring of all continuous real-valued functions on the reals R, are also included.