The diamond partial order in rings

Abstract

In this paper we introduce a new partial order on a ring, namely the diamond partial order. This order is an extension of a partial order defined in a matrix setting in [J.K. Baksalary and J. Hauke, A further algebraic version of Cochran's theorem and matrix partial orderings, Linear Algebra and its Applications, 127, 157--169, 1990]. We characterize the diamond partial order on rings and study its relationships with other partial orders known in the literature. We also analyze successors, predecessors and maximal elements under the diamond order.