Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-non-commutative-rings-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/1/a/ii/solution

The Jacobson radical is
Here the second intersection ranges over isomorphism classes of nonzero simple modules. For the equality, every nonzero in a simple module gives a surjective module homomorphism , , whose kernel is a maximal left ideal. Conversely, every maximal left ideal gives the simple module . This description by annihilators shows that is a two-sided ideal.
Let and put . If the left ideal were proper, it would lie in a maximal left ideal . Both and would belong to , giving , a contradiction. Therefore there is with .
A left inverse alone need not be a two-sided inverse in a general ring, so one more step is necessary. The equality gives . Applying the same argument to supplies with . Then
and hence . Thus
For the zero ring the conclusion holds directly; the maximal left ideal argument concerns the nonzero case.

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