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CONF-CIAP 2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2386 (2022) 012024 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2386/1/012024

Group Theory and Ring Theory

Zeqi Xue
Beijing No.80 High School, Chaoyang, Beijing 100020, China

[email protected]

Abstract. Group theory is an important theory in abstract algebra. A ring is a kind of algebraic
system with two operations (addition and multiplication). It has a deep relationship with groups,
especially with the Abelian group. In this essay, the ring and the residual class ring will be
talked about. Firstly, this passage is aim to talk about some basic knowledge about the ring
which will let readers have a basic understanding of a ring. Then this passage will discuss the
residual class ring and subring of the residual class ring of modulo. Some concepts about the
ring are also mentioned, such as the centre of the ring, the identity of the ring, the classification
of a ring, the residual class ring, the field and the zero divisors. The definitions of mathematical
terms mentioned before are stated, as well as some examples of the part of those terms are
given. In this passage, there are also some lemmas which are the properties of ring and subring.
Future studies of rings and subrings can focus on the application of physics.

Keywords: Group theory; Ring; Subring; Residual class ring.

1. Introduction
Group theory is a significant part of the progress of science. First of all, the research method of group
theory is important for a lot of branches of abstract algebra. Also, group theory is important for the
research of physics and chemistry as a lot of different physical structures, like lattice structures and
atomic structures, can be modelled by using the method of group theory [1, 2]. For instance,
Bhagavantam and Suryanarayana used group theory to study an aspect of chemistry related to a semi-
conductor in the article Crystal symmetry and physical properties: application of group theory [3].
Lin-Yuan, Goldenfeld and Oono used group theory to find the equation of slow motion dynamics in
nonequilibrium phenomena [4]. Group theory has been used by thousand times in the field of physics
and chemistry. Because of group theory, physics, chemistry, abstract algebra and lots of since are
pushed. In other words, the appearance of group theory led scientists to solve lots of questions which
are unsolvable before.
Nowadays, the concept of groups is generally regarded as one of the most fundamental concepts in
mathematics and it has many applications. Group was founded in the 19th century by a french
mathematician named Galois who is a man with a brilliant brain but a Short and tortuous life
experience [5]. Galois used the Galois group to solve the quintic equation, and then a lot of
mathematicians discovered the secret of different groups and used them to solve plenty of difficulties
for the progress of human society. In 1992, Dixit, Kumar and Ajmal defined a fuzzy semiprime ideal
and studied some basic properties of this fuzzy ideal [6]. In 2000, Shumyatsky studied the application
of the ring of group theory [7]. There is a special tool to research group theory, the tool is Rubik's cube.

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CONF-CIAP 2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2386 (2022) 012024 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2386/1/012024

In 2008, Zhu studied group theory by using Rubik's cube and expanded the lower bound of the
diameter of the Cayley diagram corresponding to Rubik's cube group from 20 to 21 [8]. Goodearl
wrote a book to introduce Abelian groups in 2010 [9]. In the future, Group theory can make more
contributions to chemistry. There are lots of aspects in group theory, like finite and infinite groups,
rings, fields and so on.
This paper is talking about the ring and introducing ring in a different field by stating some
definitions of a ring. In section 2, some basic definitions of group theory and ring are talked about.
Then this paper will focus on a particular ring which is the subring of the residual class ring in section
3.

2. Basic knowledge of ring

This part will talk about the definitions and examples of rings, definitions of the identity of ring,
subring, and the centre of the ring. Also, we will give two lemmas which are Lemma 1, and Lemma 2
about the identity of the ring and the centre of the ring respectively. At the end of this section, the
classification of a ring will be talked about.

2.1. Ring
First, let’s focus on the definition of a ring.
Definition 2.1: When a set has two operations "+" (addition) and “×” (multiplication), and these
two operations satisfy the following four properties, the set is a ring.
1)First property is that it needs to be a additive abelian group, which means R constitutes an
abelian group concerning addition.
2)The second property is the set needs to satisfy multiplication closed, which means when a, b ϵ R,
then ab ϵ R.
3)The third property is that the set needs to satisfy the associative law of multiplication, and the
definition of the law of multiplication is (a ∙ b) ∙ c = a ∙ (b ∙ c).
4)Multiplication plus distributive property is the last property, which means a ∙ (b + c) = a ∙ b +
a ∙ c, and (b + c) ∙ a = b ∙ a + c ∙ a. Notice that a ring is a commutative ring if its multiplication
satisfies the commutative law.
Then let’s see three examples of the ring. The first example is a polynomial with rational numbers
as coefficients. The next example is a polynomial with complex number as coefficients. And the last
example is x 2 + 1.

2.2. Other conceptions

Definition 2.2: If there are elements in the ring R which can be denoted as e, when 𝑎ϵ R, then there
exist ae = ea = a, then e is the identity element of the ring .
Lemma 2.1: The unit element is unique if it exists, which means there is only one identity in the
same ring.
Proof: Suppose there are two identity elements e1 , e2 , then there holds that ae1 = a, ae2 = a.
Then it follows ae1 = ae2 . Let’s multiply both sides by a−1 , then e1 e1 = e2 e2 , since 𝑒1 , 𝑒2
multiply e1 ,e2 both sides by a−1 , then e1 e1 = e1 , and e2 e2 = e2 , so e1 = e2. So there is only one
identity in a ring.
Definition 2.3: If some elements (but not all) of the ring have inverses, then the multiplication of all
of these invertible elements with respect to R forms a group, which is called the identity group.
Definition 2.4: Ring R has a subset S . If S is an additive subgroup of G , and satisfies
Multiplication closed, such that a, b ∈ S, ab ∈ S, then S is a subring of R.
Lemma 2.2: If d is an integer, then dZ is the subring of Z, where Z is a set of integers.
Proof: First let I = dZ, zϵZ, we have dz = dZ. It satisfies the close of multiplication. Then let
z1 ϵ Z, z2 ϵ Z, it holds that
dz1 − dz2 = d(z1 − z2 ) ϵ dZ. (1)

2
CONF-CIAP 2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2386 (2022) 012024 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2386/1/012024

So I = dZ is the subring of Z.
Next, we will talk about the centre of the ring.
Definition 2.5: If the subset of the rings satisfies that C(R) = {r ∈ R|rs = sr, ∀s ∈ R}, then it must be
the subring of R, and we call the centre of the ring, such that sC = Cs.
Now let’s focus on the category method of the ring. All rings in abstract algebra can be divided by
two kinds. One is called the commutative ring which satisfies the multiplication commutative law.
Another is called a non-commutative ring which does not satisfy the multiplication commutative law.
The difference between those two kinds of the ring is weather they satisfy the multiplication
commutative law, and the different origin and development paths [10].

3. Subring of the residual class ring of modulo 𝐧

In this part, the residue class, the ring of residue classes, the field, the zero divisors and Lemma 3 will
be talked about. Definitions or examples of that concept will be stated in this part.
The first part of this section is the residue class.
Definition 3.1: An integer divided by a positive integer n has n possible remainders:
0,1,2,3. . . N minus one, they are not congruent to each other concerning modulo n. This shows that
every integer is congruent with one of the n integers with modulo n. Thus, the set of integers can be
divided into N pairs of disjoint subsets according to whether modulo n is congruent or not. We call
a set of integers congruent to modulo n by a residual class of modulo n.
It can be more easily understood as a class of all integers in terms of congruence to a positive
integer. Let m be a given positive integer, Cr (r = 0,1,2, . . . . m − 1) represents the set of integers
whose form is qm + r, where q = 0, ±1, ±2, . . .., Then C0 , C1 , . . . , Cm−1 is called the residual class
of module m.
The residue class has two properties which are every integer belongs to a class:
Cj (0 ≤ j ≤ m − 1) (2)
And it is necessary and sufficient that two integers x and y belong to the same class:
x ≡ y(mod m). (3)
Then let’s look at the operations of the residue class. The First operation is a̅ ∙ b̅ = ̅̅̅̅̅
a ∙ b, and another
̅ ̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
operation is a̅ + b = a + b. By the way, the remaining class of the integer a is denoted as a̅ .
After the fundamental study of the residue class, let’s start the study of the ring of residue classes.
Definition 3.2: The ring composed of m residue classes(mod m) is called a modular M residue class
ring, denoted by Z/m, m < 1. Notice that this ring has finite elements.
Then let’s look at the function about the ring of residue classes. Notice that if there are addition,
multiplication and operation laws, then equations exist. The form of function of the ring of residue
classes is
n n−1 1
a̅̅̅x
0 + a̅̅̅x
1 +. . . +a̅̅̅̅̅̅x
n−1 an 0 = 0
+ ̅̅̅x (4)
The form of congruence equation is
a0 x n + a1 xn−1 +. . . +an−1 x1 + an x 0 ≡ 0 (mod m) (5)
The relationship between function about a ring of residue classes and congruence equation is that x1
is a root of the congruence equation, then x1 is a root of function about the ring of residue classes too.
Please pay attention that when the left-hand side of the function about the ring of residue classes and
congruence equations are entire the same.
Then examples of the field will be discussed in this sector. The first example is the rational number
field (Q, +,∗). This example satisfies the four following properties of the field. First, it has two
operations which are addition and multiplication, and also satisfies commutative law, combination law,
and distributive law; Second, there are unique elements of 0 and 1, and all integers plusing 0 (times
1) remain the same; Thirdly, any element n has the opposite element −n such that n + (−n) = 0;

3
CONF-CIAP 2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2386 (2022) 012024 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2386/1/012024

The last one is that, any element n has the inverse element n−1 such that n ∙ n−1 = 1. The second
example is the real number field (R, +,∗).
Then let’s pay attention to the zero divisors. There are three-point the researcher needs to be
focused on. First of all, in ordinary multiplication of numbers, if a ≠ 0, b ≠ 0, then ab ≠ 0, but this
property is no longer true in ordinary rings. The second point is to let a ≠ 0 be an element of ring R.
If there is an element b ≠ 0 in R such that AB = 0, then a is called a left zero factor of the ring R,
and a right zero factor can also be defined. And also the left and right zero factors are collectively
called zero factors.
Lemma 3.1: Let n be the positive integer, and p be a prime number, and R = (n) be a ring which
consisted by n, then the quotient ring S = (n)/(pn).When (p, n) = p, S is a zero ring [11].
Proof: When (p, n) = p, then n = pb, and ∀a, b ∈ S. Then, a = k1 n and b = k 2 n, then ab = 0. So
S is a zero ring.

4. Conclusion
In this passage, there are some definitions, some examples and some lemmas about the ring. Those
concepts allow readers to learn the basic knowledge about rings and subrings. For instance, a ring is a
class of algebraic systems with two operations which are addition and multiplication and under
particular conditions. A polynomial with complex numbers as coefficients is one example of a ring.
The identity of the ring is an element in the ring. When this element multiplies any other element a in
the ring, the product is still the element a. Then there is a lemma which proves that there is only one
identity in a ring. The ring R has a subset S. If S is an additive subgroup of G, and satisfies
Multiplication closed, such that a, b ∈ S, ab ∈ S, then S is subring of R. Then there is a lemma about
subring. The lemma is talking about I = dZ is the subring of Z. The next part is talking about the
subring of the residual class ring of modulo n. The definition of the residual class ring is talked. The
ring composed of m residue classes(mod m) is called the modular residue class ring M, denoted
Z/m, m < 1. Then the lemma is to prove that when (p, n) = p, S is a zero ring. This passage can give
basic knowledge about the ring and the residual class ring to people who are interested in the ring.
And there are lots of definitions which can help people to know those conceptions well. There are also
some weaknesses and shortcomings in this passage. For example, this passage doesn’t pay attention to
the field of applications of the ring, and also lacks calculation. In the future, the author can investigate
the application of rings.

References
[1] George M 1964 Chemical applications of group theory. Journal of the American Chemical Society.
vol. 86. pp312.
[2] Shu H 2020 Applications of group theory to Physical Chemistry. In ： Springer, S. (Eds.),
Mathematical Physical Chemistry. Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd, Takatsuk. pp.729–789.
[3] Bhagavantam S and Suryanarayana D 2010 Crystal symmetry and Physical properties: application of
group theory. Acta Crystallographica, vol. 2. pp.21-26.
[4] Chen L Goldenfeld N and Oono Y 1994 Renormalization group theory for global asymptotic
analysis. Physical Review Letters. vol. 74. pp.1311-1315.
[5] Xiang G 1990 Galois and group theory. Research of mathematic teaching-learning. vol. 1. pp.30-32.
[6] Dixit V Kumar R and Ajmal N 1992 On fuzzy rings. Fuzzy Sets & Systems. vol. 49. pp.205-213.
[7] Shumyatsky P 2017 Applications of Lie ring methods to group theory. Nonassociative Algebra & Its
Applications. vol. 1. pp.373-395.
[8] Goodearl K 2010 Partially ordered Abelian groups with interpolation. Mathematical Surveys and
Monographs, Providence.
[9] Zhu L 2008 Application of group Theory to Rubik's cube. Suzhou University, Zhejiang.
[10] Wang S 2015 An early historical study of commutative ring theory. Northwest University, ShanXi.
[11] Li B 1992 On the subring of the ring of residue modulo n. Journal of Nanjing Normal University:
Natural Science Edition. vol. 15. pp.17-20.