  Motivated by the quest for a logic for PTIME and recent insights that the
descriptive complexity of problems from linear algebra is a crucial aspect of
this problem, we study the solvability of linear equation systems over finite
groups and rings from the viewpoint of logical (inter-)definability. All
problems that we consider are decidable in polynomial time, but not expressible
in fixed-point logic with counting. They also provide natural candidates for a
separation of polynomial time from rank logics, which extend fixed-point logics
by operators for determining the rank of definable matrices and which are
sufficient for solvability problems over fields. Based on the structure theory
of finite rings, we establish logical reductions among various solvability
problems. Our results indicate that all solvability problems for linear
equation systems that separate fixed-point logic with counting from PTIME can
be reduced to solvability over commutative rings. Moreover, we prove closure
properties for classes of queries that reduce to solvability over rings, which
provides normal forms for logics extended with solvability operators. We
conclude by studying the extent to which fixed-point logic with counting can
express problems in linear algebra over finite commutative rings, generalising
known results on the logical definability of linear-algebraic problems over
finite fields.
