Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-algebra-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2008/a/3/solution
Past exam of the algebra course of the University of Oxford 2008 A 3 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
A simple module is a nonzero module with no proper nonzero submodule. For a finite-dimensional simple complex module , any endomorphism has a complex eigenvalue . The nonzero kernel of is an -submodule, hence all of . Thus , proving Schur's lemma.
More generally a nonzero map between two simple modules is an isomorphism, because its kernel is zero and its image is the whole target. The endomorphism algebra of is the block algebra with entries . For nonisomorphic summands its off-diagonal entries vanish and its diagonal entries are scalars, giving . For isomorphic summands, choose one fixed isomorphism to identify them; every block is scalar and block composition is matrix multiplication, giving .
A finite-dimensional algebra is a semisimple algebra when its left regular module is a direct sum of simple modules. The complex Artin–Wedderburn theorem gives , with the multiset of positive integers uniquely determined. Its dimension is . For dimension eight only sizes one and two can occur; the number of size-two blocks is zero, one, or two. Thus there are exactly three isomorphism types:They are distinct by the uniqueness clause, or by their numbers of one-dimensional simple modules. If is nonabelian, is noncommutative because its group elements form a basis, so the first type is excluded. The augmentation provides a one-dimensional simple module, excluding the third type. ConsequentlyThere is one simple module for each matrix block, of dimension the block size, so exactly four are one-dimensional. Every nonabelian group of order eight therefore has this same complex group algebra.
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