Associated prime submodules of finitely generated modules

Let $R$ be a commutative ring with identity. For a finitely generated $R$-module $M$, the notion of associated prime submodules of $M$ is defined. It is shown that this notion inherits most of essential properties of the usual notion of associated prime ideals. In particular, it is proved that for a Noetherian multiplication module $M$, the set of associated prime submodules of $M$ coincides with the set of $M$-radicals of primary submodules of $M$ which appear in a minimal primary decomposition of the zero submodule of $M$. Also, Anderson's theorem [{\bf 2}] is extended to minimal prime submodules in a certain type of modules.