On Maximal Subrings of Commutative Rings

Abstract

A proper subring S of a ring R is said to be maximal if there is no subring of R properly between S and R. If R is a noetherian domain with |R| > 2ℵ0, then | Max (R)| ≤ | RgMax (R)|, where RgMax (R) is the set of maximal subrings of R. A useful criterion for the existence of maximal subrings in any ring R is also given. It is observed that if S is a maximal subring of a ring R, then S is artinian if and only if R is artinian and integral over S. Surprisingly, it is shown that any infinite direct product of rings has always maximal subrings. Finally, maximal subrings of zero-dimensional rings are also investigated.