Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2016 / ib / Paper 4 / 11E (Groups, Rings and Modules)

Work with the usual commutative unital Noetherian ring convention. First prove that every submodule of $R^d$ is a finitely generated module. For $d=1$, a submodule is an ideal, hence finitely generated by Noetherianity. For the induction step, project a submodule $N\subseteq R^d$ onto its last coordinate. Its image is a finitely generated ideal; choose lifts in $N$ of its generators. The projection kernel lies in $R^{d-1}$ and is finitely generated by induction. The kernel generators together with the chosen lifts generate $N$, since subtracting a combination of the lifts leaves an element of the kernel.

Now choose a surjection $R^d\to M$ from a finite generating set of the module $M$. For any submodule $U\subseteq M$, its inverse image in $R^d$ is finitely generated by the result just proved. The images of those generators generate $U$.

Every submodule of $M$ is finitely generated. In particular $M$ is a Noetherian module: the union of an ascending chain is a submodule, and its finite generators all belong to a single member of the chain, forcing eventual stabilization.

Let $P=\mathrm{Ann}(m)$ be maximal among annihilators of nonzero elements of $M$. It is a proper ideal, since $1m=m\ne 0$. Suppose $ab\in P$ and $b\notin P$. Then $bm\ne 0$ andThe inclusion holds because every $r\in P$ satisfies $r(bm)=b(rm)=0$. Maximality in the stated set forces $\mathrm{Ann}(bm)=P$, so $a\in P$. This proves the defining implication for a prime ideal:This is a maximal annihilator of a module element is prime argument. Maximality among element annihilators is sufficient; $P$ need not be a maximal ideal of $R$.

If $M=0$, take the empty filtration. Otherwise a nonzero quotient $Q=M/M_i$ is a finitely generated module. Because $R$ has the ascending chain condition on ideals, the nonempty collection of annihilators of nonzero elements of $Q$ has a maximal element. Part (b), applied to $Q$, supplies $q\ne 0$ with a prime ideal $P=\mathrm{Ann}(q)$.

The map $R\to Rq$, $r\mapsto rq$, is surjective with kernel $P$. The first isomorphism theorem gives $Rq\cong R/P$. Let $M_{i+1}$ be the inverse image of $Rq$ under $M\to Q$. ThenRepeat whenever the quotient remains nonzero. An infinite repetition would give a strictly ascending chain of submodules of the Noetherian module $M$, contradicting part (a). Thus the process stops after finitely many steps, necessarily at $M$.

This constructs the required prime filtration $0=M_0⊊\cdots ⊊M_l=M$, with each successive quotient $R/P_i$ for a prime $P_i$.