Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/iii/paper-3/6/a/solution

A nonzero finite-dimensional quiver representation is a brick module when . If with both summands nonzero, projection onto is an idempotent endomorphism different from zero and the identity. That is impossible in . Hence every brick is indecomposable.
For the requested converse counterexample, take the dual-number algebra and its left regular module . The algebra is local with maximal ideal , and it is not simple because this is a nonzero proper ideal. The module is indecomposable: its endomorphism ring is , which has no nontrivial idempotents. But this ring has dimension two over , so the regular module is not a brick. Thus indecomposable need not mean brick without the positive-definiteness hypothesis used below.

New to topics? Read the docs here!