$\phi$-prime submodules

Abstract

Let $R$ be a commutative ring with non-zero identity and $M$ be a unitary $R$-module. Let $\mathcal{S}(M)$ be the set of all submodules of $M$, and $\phi:\mathcal{S}(M)\to \mathcal{S}(M)\cup \{\emptyset\}$ be a function. We say that a proper submodule $P$ of $M$ is a prime submodule relative to $\phi$ or $\phi$-prime submodule if $a\in R$, $x\in M$ with $ax\in P\setminus \phi(P)$ implies that $a\in(P:_RM)$ or $x\in P$. So if we take $\phi(N)=\emptyset$ for each $N\in\mathcal{S}(M)$, then a $\phi$-prime submodule is exactly a prime submodule. Also if we consider $\phi(N)=\{0\}$ for each submodule $N$ of $M$, then in this case a $\phi$-prime submodule will be called a weak prime submodule. Some of the properties of this concept will be investigated. Some characterizations of $\phi$-prime submodules will be given, and we show that under some assumptions prime submodules and $\phi_1$-prime submodules coincide.