Refinement rings, localization and diagonal reduction of matrices

Abstract

In this paper we prove that if $R$ is a commutative refinement ring and $M$, $N$ are two $R$-modules then, $M\cong N$ if and only if for every maximal ideal $m$ of $R$, $M_m\cong N_m$. We prove if $R$ is a refinement ring, then every regular matrix over $\frac{R}{J(R)}$ admits a diagonal reduction iff every regular matrix over $R$ admits a diagonal reduction.