Let R be a reduced, one-dimensional Noetherian local ring whose integral closure R is finitely generated over R. Since R is a direct product of finitely many principal ideal domains (one for each minimal prime ideal of R), the indecomposable finitely generated R-modules are easily described, and every finitely generated R-module is uniquely a direct sum of indecomposable modules. In this article we will see how little of this good behavior trickles down to R. Indeed, there are relatively few situations where one can describe all of the indecomposable R-modules, or even the torsion-free ones. Moreover, a given finitely generated module can have many different representations as a direct sum of indecomposable modules.
Finite Cohen-Macaulay typeIf R is a one-dimensional reduced Noetherian local ring, the maximal CohenMacaulay R-modules (those with depth 1) are exactly the non-zero finitely generated torsion-free modules. One says that R has finite Cohen-Macaulay type provided there are, up to isomorphism, only finitely many indecomposable maximal Cohen-Macaulay modules. The following theorem classifies these rings: