Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
The following problem was the starting point for this investigation: Can every desarguesian affine Hjelmslev plane be embedded into a desarguesian projective Hjelmslev plane [8]? An affine Hjelmslev plane is called desarguesian if it can be coordinatized by a right chain ring R with a maximal ideal J(R) consisting of two-sided zero divisors. A projective Hjemslev plane is called desarguesian if the coordinate ring is in addition a left chain ring, i.e. a chain ring. This leads to the algebraic version of the above problem, namely the embedding of right chain rings into suitable chain rings. We can prove the following result.