For a short exact sequence , the middle module is Artinian exactly when both outer modules are Artinian. Submodules and quotients inherit the descending chain condition. Conversely, for a descending chain , both and its image in eventually stabilize. If , choose with the same image in ; then , giving . Induction shows that finite direct sums of Artinian modules are Artinian.
The Peter-Weyl theorem makes finite-dimensional unitary representations separate elements of a compact group. Intersecting their closed kernels gives the identity subgroup. If the descending chain condition holds for closed subgroups, choose finitely many representations whose kernel intersection is already trivial: otherwise repeatedly exclude a surviving nonidentity element to obtain an infinite strict chain. Their direct sum is a faithful representation into a finite-dimensional unitary group. Compactness makes its image closed, and the closed-subgroup theorem gives the original group a compatible Lie group structure.
Let be a commutative Artinian ring. We prove finite composition length first, without assuming the conclusion that is Noetherian.
Every prime ideal is maximal. Indeed, an Artinian integral domain is a field: for , stabilization of gives , and cancellation gives . There are only finitely many maximal ideals. To see this, choose a minimal finite intersection using the descending chain condition. Minimality gives for any other maximal ideal . Since , primeness forces one , and maximality makes them equal. Thus the Jacobson radical is this finite intersection, and the Chinese remainder theorem gives
We also need nilpotence of . Its powers stabilize; put at a stabilization stage, so . If , choose an ideal minimal subject to . Since , minimality gives . Choose with . Minimality applied to the subideal gives . The equality then yields for some . But is a unit by the unit criterion for the Jacobson radical; hence , a contradiction. Therefore .
Each layer is an Artinian module over the finite product of fields . Its components over those fields are finite-dimensional: an infinite-dimensional vector space has a strictly descending chain of subspaces. Each layer consequently has finite composition length. The finite filtration
proves that itself has finite composition length, and therefore satisfies the ascending chain condition on ideals. Every commutative Artinian ring is Noetherian. The zero ring satisfies the conclusion trivially.
The relevant Artin–Wedderburn theorem says that a semisimple ring which is a right Artinian ring has the form
where the are division rings and the positive integers and division rings are unique up to permutation and isomorphism. The division rings need not be commutative or finite-dimensional over a field. Conversely every such finite product is semisimple and a right Artinian ring.
Here is a proof which also works if semisimplicity is initially expressed as . A nonzero right ideal contains a minimal nonzero right ideal by the descending chain condition; is a simple module. If , then for every and , , so has inverse . The unit criterion for the Jacobson radical would give , a contradiction. Thus some induces a nonzero map by left multiplication. This map is an isomorphism, since is simple. Choose with . Then and injectivity on gives . We obtain and the splitting
For a right ideal containing , the same argument splits . Repeatedly split a minimal right ideal out of the remaining summand. The remaining summands form a strictly descending chain of right ideals, so the process terminates. Thus
for pairwise nonisomorphic simple modules .
A nonzero map between simple modules is an isomorphism: its kernel and image leave no alternatives. Thus is a division ring, and for . This is the needed Schur lemma. Taking endomorphisms of the direct sum gives . Finally, left multiplication identifies with : a right-module endomorphism sends to , and composition corresponds to multiplication in , not its opposite. This proves the displayed ring isomorphism.
For the converse, the right regular module of is the direct sum of its row modules. Each row module is simple, since elementary matrices and nonzero scalar inverses send any nonzero row to any prescribed row. A finite product therefore has a finite semisimple regular module and is a right Artinian ring. The simple-module multiplicities and their endomorphism division rings recover the factors, establishing uniqueness.
By part (i), finite-dimensional continuous unitary representations separate points of the compact group. More explicitly, if every representation sent some to the identity, all their matrix coefficients would take the same values at and . Uniform density would force every continuous scalar function to do so, contradicting separation of points on a compact Hausdorff space. Hence
Each representation kernel is a closed normal subgroup. We claim that the intersection can be reduced to finitely many kernels. Begin with . If , choose and a representation with . Then
An indefinite continuation would violate the descending chain condition for closed subgroups. Thus after finitely many steps, .
The direct sum is consequently a finite-dimensional faithful representation, with continuous injective homomorphism
Compactness of makes this a homeomorphism onto a compact, hence closed, image. The closed-subgroup theorem makes that image an embedded Lie subgroup of the finite-dimensional unitary group. Transporting its smooth structure to proves
This is the mechanism behind the assertion that compact groups with a descending chain condition are Lie groups: the chain condition turns an arbitrarily large separating family into one finite-dimensional faithful representation.
Use the descending chain condition on the finite intersections of maximal right ideals. It gives a minimal such intersection . Intersecting with any other maximal right ideal cannot decrease it, by minimality. Thus lies in every maximal right ideal, and . When , the diagonal map
is injective, and each summand on the right is a simple module.
For completeness, a submodule of a finite direct sum of simple modules is semisimple. Induct on the number of summands. For with simple, is either or . In the first case projection into identifies with a submodule of , so induction applies. In the second case subtracting the coordinate shows , and induction again applies. This also shows finite module length. Apply it to the image of the diagonal map to obtain
This is the semisimplicity of a right Artinian ring with zero radical. It does not assume right Noetherianity in order to prove it.
The Jacobson radical is , where runs over the maximal right ideals. Every proper right ideal lies in such an : the union of a chain of proper right ideals containing is a right ideal and remains proper because it omits . Thus Zorn lemma applies.
The right-module form of Nakayama lemma says that a finitely generated module with is zero. More generally, if is a submodule and , then . To prove the first statement, suppose and take a generating set of minimal size. Since , there are with
The unit criterion for the Jacobson radical makes a unit. Hence is generated by the other , a contradiction. Apply this result to the quotient module to obtain the general form.
For an injective module endomorphism of an Artinian module , the descending chain condition gives
for some . Given , write ; injectivity of gives . Thus is surjective, as asserted by Artinian modules are co-Hopfian.
Now is a semilocal ring and is a finitely generated module over the right Artinian ring . A finite direct sum of copies of , and hence its quotient module , is an Artinian module. The module endomorphism induces on , and the given inverse-image condition says precisely that . The preceding argument makes surjective, so
The quotient module is finitely generated and satisfies . Applying Nakayama lemma yields . Therefore is surjective, by surjectivity from injectivity modulo the Jacobson radical.
Fix a finite-dimensional nonnegative filtration of a ring giving its almost commutative algebra structure, and choose a good filtration of a module on . When is a standard graded algebra, the Hilbert-Serre theorem makes the cumulative Hilbert function eventually a polynomial. For , define the dimension of a filtered module and multiplicity of a filtered module by
Use and . With positive weighted generators instead of a standard grading, the cumulative Hilbert function is eventually a quasipolynomial with a common positive leading coefficient across residue classes. Equivalently, , and the definitions are and . The common leading coefficient follows from monotonicity: interlacing consecutive residue classes forces their leading coefficients to agree. For a standard grading, multiplicity is a positive integer, since an integer-valued polynomial has an integral expansion in the binomial polynomials; weighted normalization can instead give a positive rational number.
Two good filtrations of a module for this fixed algebra filtration bound each other after fixed index shifts. The corresponding Hilbert functions therefore satisfy for fixed . Comparing their leading growth shows that the degree and leading coefficient agree. Thus and are independent of the module filtration; the fixed algebra filtration is part of the multiplicity convention.
For a submodule , use its subspace filtration and the quotient filtration on . These are good because is Noetherian. The short exact sequence of filtered pieces gives
Nonzero leading coefficients are positive, so
If , those leading coefficients add and
This is dimension and multiplicity in a filtered exact sequence.
For the Weyl algebra in characteristic zero, Bernstein inequality for Weyl algebra modules asserts for every nonzero finitely generated module . Write its generators as , with and all other generator commutators zero. The ordered monomials give the Bernstein filtration
Take a finite-dimensional generating subspace of and put .
To prove faithful finite-step action of a Weyl algebra, consider and choose a nonzero coefficient of a monomial of maximal total degree . Applying to gives
Indeed, these commutators differentiate the ordered coefficients: lower-degree monomials vanish, and another degree- monomial can survive only if all its exponents dominate , which forces equality. This is scalar extraction by iterated Weyl commutators.
Expanding these iterated commutators writes with . If annihilated , every summand would annihilate , contrary to . Therefore the action map is injective:
Taking dimensions and comparing polynomial degrees gives
which proves Bernstein inequality for Weyl algebra modules. The polynomial representation has dimension , so the bound is sharp.
The associated graded ring of the Weyl algebra is a polynomial ring, so ascending filtered-graded transfer of Noetherianity makes a left Noetherian ring. Thus every submodule of a finitely generated module is finitely generated. If , every nonzero subquotient has dimension at most by the exact-sequence formula, and at least by Bernstein inequality for Weyl algebra modules. Every such subquotient therefore has dimension and positive integral multiplicity.
In a strictly descending chain , each nonzero quotient consumes at least one unit of multiplicity, by dimension and multiplicity in a filtered exact sequence. Hence there are at most strict steps. This proves the descending chain condition, so is Artinian. In fact this holonomic Weyl algebra module has module length at most , as in multiplicity bounds the length of a holonomic Weyl module.
An Artinian module is an -module satisfying the descending chain condition on submodules: every chain is eventually constant. An Artinian ring is a ring that is Artinian as a module over itself, so its descending chains of ideals stabilize.
We first prove the closure properties needed for finite generation. A submodule of an Artinian module is Artinian, because any descending chain in it is also a chain in the original module. A quotient module is Artinian, because inverse images turn a descending chain in the quotient into one upstairs. Conversely, consider a short exact sequence
with and Artinian. For a descending chain , the chains and both stabilize. Choose beyond both stabilization indices. If and , equality of the images gives with . Then
so . Hence . This proves the extension property of Artinian modules in a short exact sequence.
Apply this property inductively to . Every finite direct sum is Artinian when is an Artinian ring. If generate , the map is a surjection . The quotient property therefore proves
This argument also covers the zero module; it does not require a structure theorem for Artinian rings.
For a counterexample without finite generation, take any field and the module
The ring is Artinian, since its only ideals are and . But for every , since . Thus an infinite-dimensional vector space over a field provides the requested non-Artinian module.
Finally, let be an injective endomorphism with Artinian. Its image chain stabilizes, so for some . Given , choose with . Since is injective, . Therefore
This is precisely the assertion that Artinian modules are co-Hopfian.
A ring is Artinian when its ideals satisfy the descending chain condition: every chain eventually becomes constant. It is Noetherian when its ideals satisfy the ascending chain condition, equivalently when every ideal is finitely generated. We first prove finite length of a commutative Artinian ring; this gives the stronger structural reason for its Noetherian property.
If is a prime ideal of an Artinian ring, the quotient is an Artinian integral domain. For a nonzero element of that domain, the chain stabilizes. Thus for some , and cancellation gives . The quotient is a field, so every prime ideal is a maximal ideal.
There are only finitely many maximal ideals. Otherwise, choose distinct ones . The intersections form a strictly descending chain. To see strictness, for each choose ; their product belongs to the first ideals but not to the next one, since is prime. This contradicts the descending chain condition.
Put . This Jacobson radical is also the nilradical, since all primes are maximal. We need the stronger conclusion that is nilpotent, without assuming Noetherianity. Its powers stabilize, say . Suppose . By the descending chain condition, choose an ideal minimal subject to . Some has , so minimality gives . Moreover , and minimality gives . Hence for some . But is a unit: it cannot lie in any maximal ideal, because lies in all of them. Thus , a contradiction. Therefore .
The Chinese remainder theorem gives , a finite product of fields. Each quotient is an Artinian module over this product, and each field component must be a finite-dimensional vector space; an infinite-dimensional vector space admits a strictly descending chain of subspaces. Consequently every layer has finite composition length. The finite filtration
shows that itself has finite composition length. A strict inclusion of submodules strictly increases length, so an ascending chain cannot continue indefinitely. Every commutative Artinian ring is therefore Noetherian. This is the Artinian rings are Noetherian result.
For the formal power series ring, let with Noetherian, and let be any ideal of . For define a coefficient ideal
These coefficient ideals of a formal power series ideal satisfy , by multiplication by . The ascending chain condition gives for all . For each , choose finitely many series whose coefficients at generate .
We claim that these finitely many series generate as an ordinary ideal. Given , cancel its coefficient at successively. After coefficients below have vanished, its coefficient at lies in . If , use an -linear combination of the . If , use a combination of , since . The remainder then belongs to .
Collect all the cancellations against each fixed generator. For its multiplier is a polynomial, while the multipliers of the are well-defined formal power series: at any fixed degree, only finitely many cancellation steps contribute. The remainder has every coefficient zero. Thus
This is a finite sum of ideal generators, rather than merely a topological closure assertion. Since was arbitrary,
This coefficient-cancellation argument proves Noetherianity of a formal power series ring.
The corresponding Artinian assertion is false. For any nonzero ring , the ideals
in are strictly decreasing, since has a nonzero coefficient in degree and no multiple of does. In particular, a field is Artinian, but is not. The zero ring is the harmless exception.
The Jacobson radical is , where runs over the maximal right ideals of ; equivalently, it is the intersection of the annihilators of all simple modules. It is a two-sided ideal. A projective module has the lifting property against every surjective R-module homomorphism. A finitely generated module is a projective module precisely when it is a direct summand of a finitely generated free module. An indecomposable module is nonzero and admits no direct sum decomposition into two nonzero submodules.
To calculate the top of an indecomposable projective module, use the right Artinian ring hypothesis, namely the descending chain condition on right ideals. The Hopkins-Levitzki theorem gives finite composition length of the right regular module, hence of its submodule . Also is a nilpotent ideal, and is a semisimple ring. Thus the quotient module is a semisimple module; it is nonzero, since would imply for sufficiently large .
Suppose were not a simple module. A nontrivial direct sum decomposition of this semisimple module would give an idempotent that is neither zero nor the identity. Writing , the lifting property of the projective module gives with . The Fitting lemma for an indecomposable module of finite composition length says that is either invertible or a nilpotent element. Its induced map would then be invertible or a nilpotent element, respectively. Neither is possible for a nontrivial idempotent. Therefore is simple. This argument does not assume that an embedded projective module automatically splits off from the ambient module.
A block of an Artinian algebra is a nonzero two-sided direct summand determined by a primitive central idempotent : cannot be written as a sum of two nonzero orthogonal central idempotents. Its identity is . For a finite-dimensional associative algebra, the blocks of an Artinian algebra give its unique decomposition as a finite product of indecomposable algebras, or equivalently as a direct sum of two-sided ideals.
For the block of S3 in characteristic three, put , , and . The group algebra has basis for . In characteristic three,
Consequently is a two-sided nilpotent ideal, , and . A nilpotent ideal lies in the Jacobson radical, and a quotient that is a semisimple ring forces the reverse inclusion. Hence
Define orthogonal idempotents and . They sum to one, so the right regular module decomposes as
The two summands are the indecomposable projectives of S3 in characteristic three. Each direct summand is a projective module, with basis . Its quotient module modulo multiplication by is one-dimensional: the trivial representation for , and the sign representation for . Each is an indecomposable module, since two nonzero direct summands would each have nonzero quotient module modulo , contradicting its one-dimensional top. For additional detail, the successive factors of the radical series of a module are the trivial representation, sign representation, trivial representation for , and the sign representation, trivial representation, sign representation for . Indeed, modulo the relation reverses the -sign, whereas commutes with .
The center of an associative algebra is spanned by the conjugacy class sums , , and . Since and , this center of an associative algebra is
Its vector subspace is a square-zero ideal. If is a central idempotent, then and . Thus or and . There is no nontrivial central idempotent, so the whole group algebra is its single block. The two three-dimensional projective modules above are a decomposition of the regular module, not two blocks of an Artinian algebra.
A ring is a Noetherian ring if it satisfies the ascending chain condition on ideals: every chain
eventually becomes constant. Equivalently, every ideal has a finite generating set of an ideal. To see this equivalence, if an ideal were not finitely generated, one could repeatedly choose an element outside the ideal generated by the preceding choices, producing a strictly ascending chain. Conversely, the union of an ascending chain is an ideal; if it is generated by finitely many elements, all of them lie in one term of the chain, and every later term equals that term.
A ring is an Artinian ring if it satisfies the descending chain condition on ideals: every chain
eventually becomes constant. These are stabilization conditions on all ideals, not merely on principal ideals.
No. For example, take , any field. It is an Artinian ring, since its only ideals are zero and itself. In the formal power series ring , however,
is a strictly descending chain of ideals. The inclusion is strict because has a nonzero coefficient of , whereas every element of has that coefficient zero. Thus fails the descending chain condition and is not Artinian.
The same argument works for any nonzero coefficient ring : the coefficient in cannot be produced by a multiple of . Therefore is never Artinian when . The zero ring is the harmless exception.
Right Artinian ring 2026-10-05
A ring is right Artinian if its right ideals satisfy the descending chain condition, equivalently its right regular module is an Artinian module. Left and right chain conditions should be distinguished for a general ring.
The finite intersections of maximal right ideals of a right Artinian ring have a minimal member by the descending chain condition. Intersecting it with any other maximal right ideal changes nothing, so it equals the Jacobson radical. If that radical is zero, the diagonal map from the regular module into a finite direct sum of its simple quotients is injective. A submodule of a finite direct sum of simple modules is semisimple and has finite length. This proves semisimplicity of the regular module without assuming Noetherianity first.