Let S be the group of finitely supported permutations of a countably infinite set. Let $K[S]$ be the group algebra of S over a field K of characteristic 0. According to a theorem of Formanek and Lawrence, $K[S]$ satisfies the ascending chain condition for two-sided ideals. We study the reverse mathematics of this theorem, proving its equivalence over $RC{A_0}$ (or even over $RCA_0^{\rm{*}}$) to the statement that ${\omega ^\omega }$ is well ordered. Our equivalence proof proceeds via the statement that the Young diagrams form a well partial ordering.

Nontrivial pairs of zero-divisors in group rings are introduced and discussed. A problem on the existence of nontrivial pairs of zero-divisors in group rings of free Burnside groups of odd exponent $n\,\gg \,1$ is solved in the affirmative. Nontrivial pairs of zero-divisors are also found in group rings of free products of groups with torsion.

Drensky and Lakatos (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 357 (Springer, Berlin, 1989), pp. 181–188) have established a convenient property of certain ideals in polynomial quotient rings, which can now be used to determine error-correcting capabilities of combined multiple classifiers following a standard approach explained in the well-known monograph by Witten and Frank (Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2005)). We strengthen and generalise the result of Drensky and Lakatos by demonstrating that the corresponding nice property remains valid in a much larger variety of constructions and applies to more general types of ideals. Examples show that our theorems do not extend to larger classes of ring constructions and cannot be simplified or generalised.

$\text{A}$ ring $R$ is said to be $n$-clean if every element can be written as a sum of an idempotent and $n$ units. The class of these rings contains clean rings and $n$-good rings in which each element is a sum of $n$ units. In this paper, we show that for any ring $R$, the endomorphism ring of a free $R$-module of rank at least 2 is 2-clean and that the ring $B\left( R \right)$ of all $\omega \,\times \,\omega$ row and column-finite matrices over any ring $R$ is 2-clean. Finally, the group ring $R{{C}_{n}}$ is considered where $R$ is a local ring.

We prove that the Novikov assembly map for a group $\Gamma$ factorizes, in ‘low homological degree’, through the algebraic K-theory of its integral group ring. In homological degree 2, this answers a question posed by N. Higson and P. Julg. As a direct application, we prove that if $\Gamma$ is torsion-free and satisfies the Baum-Connes conjecture, then the homology group $H_{1}(\Gamma;\,\mathbb{Z})$ injects in $K_{1}(C^{*}_{r}\Gamma)$ and in $K_{1}^{\rm alg}(A)$, for any ring $A$ such that $\mathbb{Z}\Gamma\subseteq A\subseteq C^{*}_{r}\Gamma$. If moreover $B\Gamma$ is of dimension less than or equal to 4, then we show that $H_{2}(\Gamma;\,\mathbb{Z})$ injects in $K_{0}(C^{*}_{r}\Gamma)$ and in $K_{2}^{\rm alg}(A)/\Delta_{2}$, where $A$ is as before, and $\Delta_{2}$ is generated by the Steinberg symbols $\{\gamma,\,\gamma\}$, for $\gamma\in\Gamma$.

2000 Mathematical Subject Classification: primary 19D55, 19Kxx, 58J22; secondary: 19Cxx, 19D45, 43A20, 46L85.

A p-subgroup version of the conjecture of Zassenhaus is proved for some finite solvable groups including solvable groups in which any Sylow p-subgroup is either abelian or generalized quaternion, solvable Frobenius groups, nilpotent-by-nilpotent groups and solvable groups whose orders are not divisible by the fourth power of any prime.

We shall give necessary and sufficient conditions on the ring R and the group G for the group-ring RG to be a prime P. I. ring with the unique factorisation property as defined in [5].

Special cases of Bovdi's conjecture are proved. In particular the conjecture is proved for supersolvable and Frobenius groups. We also prove that if is finite, α ∊ VℤG a torsion unit and m the smallest positive integer such that αm ∊ G then m divides .

Let G be a group, let RG be the group ring of the group G over the unital commutative ring R and let U(RG) be its group of units. Conditions which imply that U(RG) contains no free noncyclic group are studied, when R is a field of characteristic p ≠ 0, not algebraic over its prime field, and G is a solvable-by-finite group without p-elements. We also consider the case R = ℤp, the ring of p-adic integers and G torsionby- nilpotent torsion free group. Finally, the residual nilpotence of U(ℤpG) is investigated.

In this paper we give necessary and sufficient conditions under which the group of units of a group ring of a finite group G over a field K does not contain a free subgroup of rank 2.

Some extensions of this results to infinite nilpotent and FC groups are also considered.