Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/iii/paper-3/2/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 3 2 Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For a finite acyclic quiver, the arrow ideal of a path algebra is nilpotent, and . If is a simple module, its submodule is either zero or . The latter would imply for every , contradicting nilpotence. Thus , and a simple module over the product of fields is supported at one coordinate. Therefore the simples are exactly , with at , zero elsewhere, and zero arrows; the vertex is unique.
A finite-dimensional semisimple module is consequently , where . Its dimension vector of a quiver representation determines its isomorphism class.
For an arbitrary finite quiver, cycles allowed, the vertex projective module of a path algebra is . Its space at vertex has basis all paths from to , and an arrow acts by adjoining that arrow at the end of the path. Its endomorphism ring iswhere is spanned by the closed paths based at . The opposite multiplication appears because endomorphisms act by right multiplication.
The evaluation isomorphism for a vertex projective isFor , its inverse sends a path starting at to . This proves both injectivity and surjectivity, and is natural in . Vertex evaluation is exact, so is a projective module; alternatively it is a direct summand of the free module .
The closed-path corner of a path algebra is a domain: in a product of two nonzero linear combinations, choose their longest path lengths. Concatenation in that top degree has a unique cut at those lengths, so a product of two nonzero top coefficients cannot cancel. Hence its only idempotents are zero and one. The same is true of the opposite ring, proving is an indecomposable module, even when cycles make it infinite-dimensional.
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