Exercise about injective modules in Lang’s Algebra

abstract-algebrainjective-module

There is an exercise in my copy of Lang's Algebra (First edition):

Show that every module is a submodule of some injective module.

There are some more exercises leading up to it, and also a hint.

The hint: let $M$ be a left $A$-module, $x\in M, x\neq 0$, show that there exists a homomorphism $f_x: M\to A_0= \operatorname{Hom}_\mathbb{Z}(A,\mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z})$ such that $f_x(x)\neq 0.$

This is the part I have been stuck at for a while. I know that $A_0$ is non-trivial and injective, and I tried to define $f_x$ on the submodule $Ax\subset M$ and extend it by injectivity. But I don't understand how to define $f_x(x)$ in a way that makes it a homomorphism.

Best Answer

Since $$\text{Hom}_A(M,\text{Hom}_{\Bbb Z}(A,\Bbb R/\Bbb Z))\cong\text{Hom}_{\Bbb Z} (M\otimes_A A,\Bbb R/\Bbb Z)\cong\text{Hom}_{\Bbb Z}(M,\Bbb R/\Bbb Z)$$ so what one needs is an Abelian group homomorphism $g:M\to\Bbb R/\Bbb Z$ with $g(x)\ne0$. There is a nonzero homomorphism from $\Bbb Z x$ to $\Bbb R/\Bbb Z$ and we can extend this by a Zorn's lemma argument to an Abelian group homomorphism $g:M\to \Bbb R/\Bbb Z$.

If you want, you may be more explicit about how this defines a homomorphism $f:M\to\text{Hom}_{\Bbb Z}(A,\Bbb R/\Bbb Z)$. We let $f(m)$ be the map $a\mapsto g(ma)$ from $A$ to $\Bbb R/\Bbb Z$.

Related Question