A Kind of Graph Structure on Non-reduced Rings

Abstract

In this paper, a kind of graph structure ΓN(R) of a ring R is introduced, and the interplay between the ring-theoretic properties of R and the graph-theoretic properties of ΓN(R) is investigated. It is shown that if R is Artinian or commutative, then ΓN(R) is connected, the diameter of ΓN(R) is at most 3; and if ΓN(R) contains a cycle, then the girth of ΓN(R) is not more than 4; moreover, if R is non-reduced, then the girth of ΓN(R) is 3. For a finite commutative ring R, it is proved that the edge chromatic number of ΓN(R) is equal to the maximum degree of ΓN(R) unless R is a nilpotent ring with even order. It is also shown that, with two exceptions, if R is a finite reduced commutative ring and S is a commutative ring which is not an integral domain and ΓN(R) ≃ ΓN(S), then R ≃ S. If R and S are finite non-reduced commutative rings and ΓN(R) ≃ ΓN(S), then |R|=|S| and |N(R)|=|N(S)|.