Abstract Algebra – Examples of Non-Unital Rings

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Every ring I've ever heard of is unital, i. e., contains a (unique) element $a$ such that $xa = ax = x$ for every $x$ in it. However, some rings do not have such an element. What are they?

P. S.: one will notice I assumed commutativity. So, for an easier related request, some examples of non-commutative rings would also be appreciated.

Best Answer

One general source of such examples is functional analysis.

One of the easiest examples to describe is the space $C_{0}{(X)}$ of functions vanishing at infinity, where $X$ is locally compact, with pointwise addition and multiplication as operations. This ring is commutative and it is unital if and only if $X$ is compact.

Another class of examples is formed by the convolution algebra $L^{1}(G)$ of a locally compact group $G$. It is unital if and only if $G$ is discrete and it is commutative if and only if $G$ is commutative. So probably the easiest examples of this kind would be $L^{1}(\mathbb{R})$ or $L^{1}(\mathbb{S^1})$. Related but a bit more complicated are the group $C^{\ast}$-algebras.

A completely different kind of (non-commutative) example would be the algebra of compact operators of an infinite-dimensional Banach space.