Rings whose units have identity plus quasi-nilpotent square

In this paper, we investigate the structural and characterizing properties of the so-called 2-UQ rings, that are rings such that the square of every unit is the sum of an idempotent and a quasi-nilpotent element that commute with each other. We establish some fundamental connections between 2-UQ rings and relevant widely classes of rings including 2-UJ, 2-UU and tripotent rings. Our novel results include: (1) complete characterizations of 2-UQ group rings, showing that they force underlying groups to be either 2-groups or 3-groups when 3∈J(R); (2) Morita context extensions preserving the 2-UQ property when trace ideals are nilpotent; and (3) the discovery that potent 2-UQ rings are precisely the semi-tripotent rings. Furthermore, we determine how the 2-UQ property interacts with the regularity, cleanness and potent conditions. Likewise, certain examples and counter-examples illuminate the boundaries between 2-UQ rings and their special relatives.