UFD with infinitely many units and infinitely many non-units

ring-theoryunique-factorization-domains

It is known that a UFD which is not a field either has

  • infinitely many units, or
  • infinitely many non-associated prime elements.

I assume that if the first condition is satisfied, nothing can be said about the second one. What if we add the condition that the set of non-units is also infinite?

To state the question clearly: If a UFD has infinitely many units and infinitely many non-units, can we conclude that the UFD has infinitely many non-associated prime elements?

Best Answer

Counter-example:

Let $K$ be an infinite field. The ring $K[\mkern-1.5mu[X]\mkern-1.5mu]$ has infinitely many units, since a formal power series is invertible if & only if its constant term is non-zero. On the other hand, it has a single prime element, namely $X$.

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