One of my favorite graduate courses at Berkeley is Math 251, a one-semester course in ring theory offered to second-year level graduate students. I taught this course in the Fall of 1983, and more recently in the Spring of 1990, both times focusing on the theory of noncommutative rings. This book is an outgrowth of my lectures in these two courses, and is intended for use by instructors and graduate students in a similar one-semester course in basic ring theory. Ring theory is a subject of central importance in algebra. Historically, some of the major discoveries in ring theory have helped shape the course of development of modern abstract algebra. Today, ring theory is a fer tile meeting ground for group theory (group rings), representation theory (modules), functional analysis (operator algebras), Lie theory (enveloping algebras), algebraic geometry (finitely generated algebras, differential op erators, invariant theory), arithmetic (orders, Brauer groups), universal algebra (varieties of rings), and homological algebra (cohomology of rings, projective modules, Grothendieck and higher K-groups). In view of these basic connections between ring theory and other branches of mathemat ics, it is perhaps no exaggeration to say that a course in ring theory is an indispensable part of the education for any fledgling algebraist. The purpose of my lectures was to give a general introduction to the theory of rings, building on what the students have learned from a stan dard first-year graduate course in abstract algebra.

The papers of this volume share as a common goal the structure and classi- fication of noncommutative rings and their modules, and deal with topics of current research including: localization, serial rings, perfect endomorphism rings, quantum groups, Morita contexts, generalizations of injectivitiy, and Cartan matrices.

A cross-section of ideas, techniques and results that give the reader an unparalleled introductory overview of the subject.

About This Book This book is meant to be used by beginning graduate students. It covers basic material needed by any student of algebra, and is essential to those specializing in ring theory, homological algebra, representation theory and K-theory, among others. It will also be of interest to students of algebraic topology, functional analysis, differential geometry and number theory. Our approach is more homological than ring-theoretic, as this leads the to many important areas of mathematics. This ap student more quickly proach is also, we believe, cleaner and easier to understand. However, the more classical, ring-theoretic approach, as well as modern extensions, are also presented via several exercises and sections in Chapter Five. We have tried not to leave any gaps on the paths to proving the main theorem- at most we ask the reader to fill in details for some of the sideline results; indeed this can be a fruitful way of solidifying one's understanding.

This volume contains the proceedings of the conference Recent Advances and New Directions in the Interplay of Noncommutative Algebra and Geometry, held from June 20–24, 2022, at the University of Washington, Seattle, in honor of S. Paul Smith's 65th birthday. The articles reflect the wide interests of Smith and provide researchers and graduate students with an indispensable overview of topics of current interest. Specific fields covered include: noncommutative algebraic geometry, representation theory, Hopf algebras and quantum groups, the elliptic algebras of Feigin and Odesskii, Calabi-Yau algebras, Artin-Schelter regular algebras, deformation theory, and Lie theory. In addition to original research contributions the volume includes an introductory essay reviewing Smith's research contributions in these fields, and several survey articles.

This book surveys fundamental current topics in these two areas of research, emphasising the lively interaction between them. Volume 1 contains expository papers ideal for those entering the field.

This volume collects some of the survey lectures delivered at the Micro program on Noncommutative Rings held at MSRI, July 10-21, 1989. While the program was concerned with recent advances in ring theory, it also had as an important component lectures on related areas of mathematics where ring theory might be expected to have an impact. Thus, there are lectures of S. P. Smith on quantum groups and Marc Ri effel on algebraic aspects of quantum field theory. Martin Lorenz and Don ald Passman consider in their lectures various aspects of crossed products: homological and K-theoretic to group actions. Kenneth Brown presents the "modern" theory of Noetherian rings and localization. These contributions as well as the others not presented here show that ring theory remains a vigorous and useful area. The planning and organization of the program were done by the under signed and the late Robert Warfield. His illness prevented his attendance at the meeting. It is to him we dedicate this volume. The organizers wish to extend their thanks to Irving Kaplansky, Director of MSRI, and the staff for all of their efforts in making this conference such a success. Susan Montgomery Lance Small vii NONCOMMUTATIVE RINGS TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . Vll . . . . . . . . . . K. A. Brown THE REPRESENTATION THEORY OF NOETHERIAN RINGS 1 A. Joseph SOME RING THEORETIC TECHNIQUES AND OPEN PROBLEMS IN ENVELOPING ALGEBRAS. . . . . . . . . . . 27 . . . M. Lorenz CROSSED PRODUCTS: CHARACTERS, CYCLIC HOMOLOGY, AND GROTHENDIECK GROUPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 . . . . . .

The already broad range of applications of ring theory has been enhanced in the eighties by the increasing interest in algebraic structures of considerable complexity, the so-called class of quantum groups. One of the fundamental properties of quantum groups is that they are modelled by associative coordinate rings possessing a canonical basis, which allows for the use of algorithmic structures based on Groebner bases to study them. This book develops these methods in a self-contained way, concentrating on an in-depth study of the notion of a vast class of non-commutative rings (encompassing most quantum groups), the so-called Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt rings. We include algorithms which treat essential aspects like ideals and (bi)modules, the calculation of homological dimension and of the Gelfand-Kirillov dimension, the Hilbert-Samuel polynomial, primality tests for prime ideals, etc.

Articles in this volume are based on talks given at the International Conference on Noncommutative Rings, Group Rings, Diagram Algebras and Their Applications. The conference provided researchers in mathematics with the opportunity to discuss new developments in these rapidly growing fields. This book contains several excellent articles, both expository and original, with new and significant results. It is suitable for graduate students and researchers interested in Ring Theory,Diagram Algebras and related topics.