On commutative rings whose ideals are direct sums of cyclic modules

Abstract

A generalization of Köthe rings is the family of rings whose ideals are direct sums of cyclic modules. These rings were previously studied in the commutative local case. This motivated us to study commutative rings with local dimension whose ideals are direct sums of cyclic modules. First, we obtain an structure theorem for rings of local dimension [Formula: see text]. Then we conclude that, for a ring of local dimension [Formula: see text], every ideal of [Formula: see text] is a direct sum of cyclic modules if and only if every indecomposable ideal of [Formula: see text] is cyclic if and only if every maximal ideal of [Formula: see text] is cyclic if and only if every maximal ideal of [Formula: see text] is cyclic if and only if [Formula: see text] is a principal ideal ring.