Exterior-power Lie algebra representation 2026-10-06
A Lie algebra representation on induces one on each exterior power by acting on every factor and summing. The tensor product of Lie algebra representations preserves the defining alternating relations, so this descends to the quotient in every characteristic of a field. In characteristic two define the exterior algebra by the relations , rather than by dividing a tensor antisymmetrizer by .
Formal derivative in positive characteristic Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Infinite field of positive characteristic from an ultraproduct Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-05
For a prime number , a nonprincipal ultrafilter on givesThe Łoś theorem makes a field of characteristic . For every natural number , almost all factors have at least elements, so is infinite.
Maschke's theorem Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Every group representation of a finite group over a field whose characteristic does not divide the number of elements of the group is semisimple. Given an invariant subspace, averaging any projection onto it over the group produces an equivariant projection, whose kernel is an invariant complement.
For a nilpotent endomorphism of a vector space, the commutator action on its endomorphisms is nilpotent. The commuting left and right multiplication maps give . If and , every summand vanishes. This works in every characteristic of a field and is useful when applying Engel theorem to an Adjoint representation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ii Paper 4 18H a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 20 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Compute each scheme-theoretic fibre by tensoring with the residue field of the chosen base point.
For the first map, put for a point of and let be the image of in . ThenIf the characteristic of a field is not two and , the two factors and are coprime, so the Chinese remainder theorem gives : the scheme-theoretic fibre is two distinct -points. If , its ring is , a dual number ring, so it is a nonreduced double point. In characteristic two, at every point, giving a nonreduced double point in every scheme-theoretic fibre. This covers the generic point, where , as well as closed points defined by irreducible polynomials.
For the arithmetic map, the generic scheme-theoretic fibre isOver a closed point it is . At this is , since . For odd , the finite field multiplicative group is cyclic, and is a square exactly when . ThusIn the second case there is one degree-two closed point over , which becomes two points after extending the residue field to an algebraic closure. The case remains nonreduced after such extension.
For , the unique source point maps to the generic point . Since all nonzero integers are invertible in ,Indeed , whereas . The distinction between a reduced split scheme-theoretic fibre and a nonreduced double point is essential in the first two examples.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 2 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
A nilpotent endomorphism satisfies for some positive integer . A nilpotent Lie algebra has a terminating lower central series of a Lie algebra: with and , one has for some . These are different conditions: the first concerns a particular linear map, whereas the second concerns repeated Lie brackets.
The representation form of Engel theorem says that if a finite-dimensional Lie subalgebra consists entirely of nilpotent endomorphisms, with , then contains a nonzero vector annihilated by every element of . Consequently there is a basis in which every element of is strictly upper triangular. No assumption on the characteristic of a field or algebraic closure is required.
We prove the common-vector assertion by induction on , simultaneously for every nonzero finite-dimensional representation space. The zero algebra is immediate. First, nilpotence of commutation by a nilpotent endomorphism follows fromIf , the right-hand side vanishes for , in every characteristic of a field. For any proper Lie subalgebra , its Adjoint representation on therefore consists of nilpotent endomorphisms. Its image has dimension at most , so the inductive assertion gives a nonzero class annihilated by . Equivalently and . Thus the Engel normalizer lemma gives .
Choose a maximal proper Lie subalgebra . Its normalizer of a Lie subalgebra must be all of , so is an ideal of a Lie algebra. Moreover has dimension one: otherwise a one-dimensional Lie subalgebra of this quotient would have a proper inverse image strictly between and . By induction the space is nonzero. It is invariant under , since . Write . The restriction of the nilpotent endomorphism to has a nonzero kernel, and any vector in that kernel is annihilated by all of . This completes the induction. Apply the assertion repeatedly to to obtain a complete invariant flag with . A basis adapted to that flag makes every matrix strictly upper triangular.
A nilpotent abstract Lie algebra need not act by nilpotent matrices. For , the scalar algebra is an abelian Lie algebra, hence a nilpotent Lie algebra, but . No change of basis makes strictly upper triangular. The failed implication is precisely the distinction described in nilpotent Lie algebras need not act nilpotently.
If is a nilpotent Lie algebra, then , so every is a nilpotent endomorphism. Conversely, apply Engel theorem to acting on . Its invariant flag is lowered by every Adjoint representation matrix, so every product of such matrices vanishes. Since is spanned by expressions , the lower central series of a Lie algebra terminates. ThereforeFinally suppose is an algebraically closed field. If some is not a nilpotent endomorphism, it has a nonzero eigenvalue and an eigenvector , giving . The vectors are linearly independent and span a nonabelian two-dimensional Lie subalgebra. Conversely, a Lie subalgebra of a nilpotent Lie algebra is nilpotent because its lower central series of a Lie algebra lies termwise in the ambient series. A nonabelian two-dimensional Lie algebra has a basis with : choose spanning the nonzero derived algebra and rescale a complementary vector. Its Adjoint representation has the nonzero eigenvalue , so it is not nilpotent. This proves the two-dimensional subalgebra criterion for Lie algebra nilpotence:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 125 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For a nonzero isogeny of elliptic curves , its degree of an isogeny is the degree of the induced extension of function fields. Since commutes with negation, its first coordinate is a rational function of alone. Write it in lowest terms asThe coordinate maps are finite morphisms of degree two. Multiplying function field degrees in the commutative diagram gives the degree of an isogeny from its x-coordinate map:This is the total degree, so the argument also covers an inseparable isogeny of elliptic curves. Counting distinct points in the kernel of an isogeny would give only its separable degree. The zero group homomorphism is assigned degree zero separately.
On a Short Weierstrass form in characteristic of a field other than two, the elliptic-curve addition formula givesThere is no cancellation: at a root of , the numerator equals , which is nonzero because the elliptic-curve discriminant is nonzero. The numerator has degree four and the denominator degree three. HenceFor completeness, the same answer holds in characteristic two, where the displayed short equation is not a nonsingular model. On a general Weierstrass equation of an elliptic curve usewhere , , , and . The resultant of this numerator and denominator is . Their resultant is therefore nonzero in every nonsingular case; even when the denominator drops degree, the numerator retains degree four.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 2 11G c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Put . Every extension of has characteristic , so the iterated Frobenius endomorphism satisfiesThe root set is . It contains and . If , thenso it is closed under subtraction and multiplication. If is nonzero, thenThus is closed under multiplicative inverses as well, and is therefore a field. This is the polynomial characterization of a finite field; in fact it is the finite field with elements, since has degree and no repeated roots.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 1 19F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Maschke's theorem says that if is a finite group and the characteristic of a field does not divide , then every finite-dimensional -representation of is semisimple.
To prove it, let be an invariant subspace of a representation , and choose any linear projection . Average its conjugates:The scalar exists by the characteristic assumption. Reindexing the sum shows that commutes with every . Since each summand restricts to the identity on , so does ; hence is an equivariant projection onto . Its kernel is an invariant complement, and induction on decomposes into irreducible representations.
The isometry group of is the infinite dihedral groupLet be a nonfaithful finite-dimensional complex representation. Its nontrivial normal kernel contains for some , by the stated hint, so factors through the finite quotientMaschke's theorem decomposes this quotient representation into irreducibles. To bound their dimensions, choose a -eigenvector with eigenvalue in an irreducible constituent. The relation givesso is invariant under both generators. Irreducibility makes it the whole constituent, whose dimension is therefore at most two. This proves the result on nonfaithful representations of the infinite dihedral group.
For the requested representation of , let its generator act on the polynomials of degree at most one by translation:In the basis ,This is a nontrivial Jordan block, so it is not diagonalizable. A direct sum of one-dimensional subrepresentations would make diagonalizable, proving that this nonsemisimple translation representation of the infinite cyclic group has the required property.
Finally, on defineThen and , so these operators define a quadratic-polynomial representation of the infinite dihedral group. In the basis they areHere but , so consists of one size-three Jordan block. If were a direct sum of subrepresentations of dimensions at most two, then would be block diagonal with Jordan blocks of sizes at most two, a contradiction. Thus this representation has the required failure of decomposition.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 120 2 b Solution 2026-09-28
Let be a nonprincipal ultrafilter on an infinite set . It contains no finite set, so a finite does not belong to . An ultrafilter contains exactly one of a set and its complement; hence . Equivalently, every nonprincipal ultrafilter contains the cofinite filter.
Fix a prime number , take , and choose a nonprincipal ultrafilter on . The ultraproductis a field because each factor is a finite field, and it has characteristic because each factor satisfies and for . For every natural number , all sufficiently large factors contain at least distinct elements. The first-order sentence asserting the existence of distinct elements therefore holds in . Thus is infinite, as summarized by infinite field of positive characteristic from an ultraproduct.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 160 4 c i Solution 2026-09-28
The partition is -regular precisely whenthat is, when no part occurs or more times. This is the definition of a regular partition in characteristic of a field .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 4 18I b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
In characteristic two, the formal derivative in positive characteristic ofisA polynomial is separable exactly when it and its derivative have no common root. If is a root of , thenThus and have a common root exactly when . Therefore is a separable polynomial if and only if .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 111 3 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Every Hecke parameter of a BN-pair divides and, because is a -group, is a power of . If , then in the field of characteristic . The specialized quadratic relation becomeswhile the braid relations are unchanged. These are the defining relations of the Coxeter group , so induces a surjective homomorphismBoth algebras have bases indexed by , hence the homomorphism is an isomorphism of group algebras.