In this paper we study categorical compactness with respect to a class of objects F being motiveated by examples arising from modules, abelian groups, and various classes of non-abelian groups. This theory is then applied to the category of not necessarily associative rings. In particular, we study the example arising from the class of all torsion-free rings. This work extends some recent results of B. J. Gardner for associative rings and radical classes.

Let G be a group with identity e, let λ be a normal supernilpotent radical in the category of associative rings and let λref be the reflected radical in the category of G-graded rings. Then for A a G-graded ring, λref(A) is the largest graded ideal of A whose intersection with Ae is λ (Ae). For λ = B, the prime radical, we compare Bref(A) to BG(A) = B(A)G, the largest graded ideal in B(A).

Throughout this paper, all rings have the identity 1 and ring homomorphisms are assumed to preserve 1. We use p to denote a prime integer and F to denote a field of characteristic p. For an element α in F, we set

A = F[ϰ]/(ϰp - α)F[ϰ].

Moreover, by D and R, we denote the derivation of A induced by the ordinary derivation of F[ϰ] and the skew polynomial ring A[X,D] where aX = Xa+D(a) (a ∈ A), respectively (cf. [2]).

In [3], R. W. Gilmer determined all the B-automorphisms of B[X] for any commutative ring B. Since then, some extensions or generalizations of his results have been obtained ([1], [2] and [5]). As to the characterization of automorphisms of skew polynomial rings, M. Rimmer [5] established a thorough result in case of automorphism type, while M. Ferrero and K. Kishimoto [2], among others, have made some progress in case of derivation type.

It is shown that the concepts of normal radical as introduced by Jaegermann [2] and of invariant radical as introduced by Anderson, Divinsky and Sulinski [1] are equivalent.