Primes and absolutely or non-absolutely irreducible elements in atomic domains

Abstract

We give examples of atomic integral domains satisfying each of the eight logically possible combinations of existence or non-existence of the following kinds of elements: 1) primes, 2) absolutely irreducible elements that are not prime, and 3) irreducible elements that are not absolutely irreducible. A non-zero non-unit is called absolutely irreducible (or, a strong atom) if every one of its powers factors uniquely into irreducibles.

24 pages, to appear in Comm. Algebra