An answer to a problem about the number of overrings

Abstract

Let [Formula: see text] be an integral domain with only finitely many overrings, equivalently, a domain such that its integral closure [Formula: see text] is a Prüfer domain with finite spectrum and there are only finitely many rings between [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. Jaballah solved the problem of counting the overrings in the case [Formula: see text] but left the general case as an open problem [A. Jaballah, The number of overrings of an integrally closed domain, Expo. Math. 23 (2005) 353–360, Problem 3.4]. The purpose of this paper is to provide a solution to that problem.