Ring Theory – Does Coproduct Exist in Category of Rings?

category-theoryring-theory

Here, rings always have an identity.
In the category of commutative rings, the coproduct of two commutative rings $A$ and $B$ is $A \otimes_Z B$.

My question is: does coproduct exist generally in the category of non-commutative rings? If yes, how to construct the product? If no, why?

I have tried that $A \oplus B$ equipped with componentwise operations is not the coproduct. I even consider in the category whose morphisms are not required to preserve identities and can not find the coproduct.

Best Answer

It does exist. It is called the free product, and written $R*S$. A general element is a sum of products of elements of $R\cup S$. Since it is not required that elements commute, this cannot always be regrouped into a sum of products $rs$ with $r\in R$ and $s\in S$. Hence it is a lot larger than the tensor product.