Right Goldie ring

A right Goldie ring satisfies the right-sided conditions in the definition of a Goldie ring. Every right Noetherian ring does: its right annihilators are right ideals, and its right regular module has finite uniform dimension.

A semiprime ring has a classical right ring of quotients that is a semisimple ring and Artinian exactly when it is a right Goldie ring. In particular, the theorem applies to a semiprime ring that is a right Noetherian ring. It extends the fraction-field construction from commutative domains to rings whose quotient can be a finite product of matrix rings over division rings.

A nonzero two-sided ideal of the classical right ring of quotients contains a nonzero element of the original ring: multiply a nonzero fraction by its regular right denominator. If the original ring is prime, the contractions of any two such ideals have nonzero product, so the quotient ring is prime too. The Goldie theorem makes it semisimple Artinian, and the Artin–Wedderburn theorem expresses it as a finite product of matrix rings over division rings. Primeness excludes more than one factor.

Suppose $R$ is a right Noetherian ring and every essential right ideal contains a regular element of a ring. Preimages of essential regular principal right ideals under left multiplication are essential, so they contain regular elements and prove the right Ore condition. In the classical right ring of quotients $Q$, every right ideal is generated by its contraction to $R$, making $Q$ right Noetherian. An essential right ideal of $Q$ contracts to an essential right ideal of $R$, hence contains a regular element and is all of $Q$. A maximal disjoint complement to any right ideal has essential sum with it, so every right ideal is complemented. The right regular module is therefore a finite direct sum of simple modules, making $Q$ semisimple Artinian.