Commutative group algebras and Prufer groups

Abstract

Suppose $G$ is a multiplicatively written abelian $p$-group, where $p$ is a prime, and $F$ is a field of arbitrary characteristic. The main results in this paper are that none of the Sylow $p$-group of all normalized units $S(FG)$ in the group ring $FG$ and its quotient group $S(FG)/G$ cannot be Prufer groups. This contrasts a classical conjecture for which $S(FG)/G$ is a direct factor of a direct sum of generalized Prufer groups whenever $F$ is a perfect field of characteristic $p$.