Torsion module ($T(M)=M$)

A torsion module over an integral domain $R$ is a module in which every element is a torsion element of a module. Each element may require a different nonzero annihilating scalar. The module $\mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}$ is torsion over $\mathbb{Z}$, and the polynomial module from a linear operator $\mathbb{Q}[t]/(t^2)$ is torsion over $\mathbb{Q}[t]$.

If the torsion module is a finitely generated module, one common nonzero scalar kills the whole module: multiply annihilating scalars for a finite generating set. Without finite generation this can fail. The quotient module $\mathbb{Q}/\mathbb{Z}$ is torsion, since the class of $a/b$ is killed by $b$, but no nonzero integer $n$ kills it all: the class of $1/(2|n|)$ survives multiplication by $n$. See Keith Conrad's Modules over a PID, exercise 6.5(c).

For a module $M$ over an integral domain $R$, its torsion submodule isThis is a submodule. If $rm=0$ and $sn=0$ with $r,s\ne 0$, then $rs(m+n)=0$ and $rs\ne 0$; also $r(am)=a(rm)=0$ for every $a\in R$. The integral domain hypothesis supplies both the nonzero product and commutativity. These are the conventions of ^[ref].

A mixed example is the direct sum $M={\mathbb{Z}}^2\oplus \mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}$. If a nonzero integer kills $(a,b,\overline{c})$, then $a=b=0$. Conversely, $6$ kills every $(0,0,\overline{c})$. ThusThe torsion submodule isolates the finite-order part while the quotient module keeps the independent integer directions. In general $M/T(M)$ is a torsion-free module: if $r(m+T(M))=0$ with $r\ne 0$, some $s\ne 0$ kills $rm$, so $sr\ne 0$ kills $m$.

The hypothesis matters. In the ring $R=\mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}$ viewed as a module over itself, the elements $\overline{2}$ and $\overline{3}$ are killed by nonzero scalars $\overline{3}$ and $\overline{2}$, but their sum $\overline{5}$ is a unit and is killed by no nonzero scalar. Thus using arbitrary nonzero scalars in a ring with zero divisors need not give a submodule. A common broader convention uses regular elements of a ring as annihilators; the integral domain convention here avoids that ambiguity.

For a module $M$ over an integral domain $R$, a torsion element is an $m\in M$ with $rm=0$ for some $0\ne r\in R$. This includes zero. Equivalently, its annihilator ${\mathrm{Ann}}_R(m)=\{r\in R:rm=0\}$ is a nonzero ideal. The torsion elements of a module form the torsion submodule.

For $M=\mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}$, computed annihilators areFor these three elements, the additive order of a group element is respectively $6$, $3$, and $2$: these are the smallest positive integers killing them. Torsion over $\mathbb{Z}$ agrees exactly with finite additive order of a group element. Over a general integral domain, torsion concerns the chosen scalars instead; the polynomial module from a linear operator gives a torsion example whose nonzero elements have infinite additive order of a group element.