Annihilator of a module

The annihilator ${\mathrm{Ann}}_R(M)$ is the ideal of scalars that kill every element of $M$.

Over a commutative unital ring, an ideal maximal among annihilators of nonzero elements of a module is a prime ideal. Each such ideal is the annihilator of a module given by the cyclic submodule generated by that element. If $P=\mathrm{Ann}(m)$ and $ab\in P$ with $b\notin P$, then $bm\ne 0$ and $P\subseteq \mathrm{Ann}(bm)$. Maximality makes these annihilators equal, so $a\in P$. A Noetherian ring ensures that a nonzero module has a maximal element annihilator by the ascending chain condition on ideals.