Complex multiplication 2026-10-13
An abelian variety of dimension has complex multiplication when its rational endomorphism ring contains a commutative semisimple -algebra of dimension . For an elliptic curve in characteristic zero, this means its geometric endomorphism ring of an elliptic curve is an order in an imaginary quadratic field. The resulting rank-one Tate module representations connect torsion points to class field theory.
Take sources , sink , and arrows sending to . An endomorphism preserving these three lines must be scalar, so the representation has endomorphism ring and is a brick module. It is the only indecomposable of the three-subspace quiver with a two-dimensional sink.
Indecomposable module Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
A nonzero module is indecomposable if it cannot be expressed as a direct sum of two nonzero submodules. The zero module is excluded. A module of finite composition length is indecomposable exactly when its endomorphism ring has no idempotents other than zero and one: an idempotent splits the module into its image and kernel.
Local endomorphism ring 2026-10-06
An endomorphism ring is local when its nonunits form a proper two-sided ideal; commutativity is not required. The Fitting lemma gives this property for an indecomposable finite-length module. If two nonunits had an invertible sum, multiplication by its inverse would give with noninvertible . Fitting makes nilpotent, so would be invertible, a contradiction. Products with a nonunit are nonunits by finite-length injectivity/surjectivity. The quotient by the nonunit ideal is a division ring.
Module endomorphism 2026-10-14
A module endomorphism is a module homomorphism from a module to itself. These maps form the endomorphism ring under pointwise addition and composition. An invertible module endomorphism is a module automorphism.
Normal space to a quiver orbit 2026-10-06
The infinitesimal base change action on quiver representations is . Its image is the Zariski tangent space to the orbit, because the stabilizer is a smooth open subset of the endomorphism ring. The extension complex of quiver representations identifies the quotient of the ambient tangent space by this image with . Consequently rigid quiver representations have open orbits.
Orbit dimension formula 2026-10-06
For an algebraic group action, the orbit dimension is the dimension of the group minus that of its stabilizer. For a finite-dimensional representation, the stabilizer is an automorphism group, open in its endomorphism ring, so their dimensions agree. In a quiver representation space, the Ringel form turns the orbit codimension into the dimension of the self-extension group.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 5 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Nagao module theorem states that if is a central idempotent, , and , then is central in andEvery indecomposable summand of the second term is relatively projective for some subgroup of not containing . In particular, if , the error term has no summand with module vertex containing . This is the Nagao version of the second main theorem; it identifies the modular block of a module vertex- Green correspondent.
Let be the identity of , , and its Brauer correspondent of a block in . Because , the ideal is nilpotent: normality allows moving past and the augmentation ideal of the p-group is nilpotent. Hence has nonzero image in . Choose an indecomposable summand of . It is projective over and belongs to modular block after inflation.
Since is a permutation module, its summand has trivial module source and module vertex contained in . As acts trivially, all its proper-subgroup traces vanish and its Brauer quotient of a module is . The module vertex must also contain , so it is exactly . This is inflated quotient projectives have trivial source.
Let be the Green correspondent of in , using the theorem proved in the next solution. It has module vertex and the same trivial module source. For a normal p-subgroup, each central block idempotent of equals its Brauer image: the two central idempotents agree modulo the nilpotent ideal , because nonfixed conjugation-orbit sums map to zero in ; central idempotents congruent modulo a nilpotent ideal coincide. The first main theorem therefore gives .
Let be the block identity acting on . Nagao's theorem forces , since has module vertex . But , and for orthogonality would give . Therefore belongs to , has module vertex and has trivial module source. For , this supplies an indecomposable projective in the defect-zero modular block.
For the representation-type deduction, modules in a block are projective relative to its defect group: the block trace identity acts as a relative trace equal to the module identity, so D. Higman criterion gives split induction from . If is cyclic of order , then , whose indecomposable modules are the nilpotent Jordan chains , . Each indecomposable in is a summand of the module induction of its module restriction to , and hence occurs among the summands of these finitely many fixed induced modules. Their finite Krull-Schmidt decompositions give finite representation type.
Conversely, the regular defect-group bimodule inside a block givesIndeed this module restriction is a permutation summand. Its Brauer quotient at is nonzero, because on the fixed group-basis elements the block projection becomes multiplication by . Every transitive orbit in has stabilizer of order at most . A summand with a nonzero quotient at must therefore have stabilizer exactly up to conjugacy, and is the regular bimodule. Tensoring this split inclusion on the right with an arbitrary -module yieldsIf has only finitely many indecomposable modules, their restrictions contain only finitely many indecomposable summands. The displayed inclusion puts every indecomposable on that finite list, so has finite representation type too.
A noncyclic finite p-group has a quotient , by the Burnside basis theorem for its Frattini quotient. Here is an explicit infinite family over any field, including a finite field. For , take basis and operators , defined byand . All products of vanish, so satisfy the group relations in characteristic . The radical is . An endomorphism preserves , and commuting with the two shift maps forces its induced maps on and to be the same scalar. To see this, write the shift matrices as and : the equations , force the off-diagonal entries of to vanish and all diagonal entries to agree, by comparing successive rows, including the zero first column of and zero last column of . The remaining linear map sends the top into and has square zero. Thus the endomorphism ring is a scalar algebra with square-zero radical, hence local; the module is indecomposable. Inflation to preserves that ring. Its dimensions are unbounded, contradicting finite representation type. Therefore has finite representation type if and only if is cyclic, including trivial defect.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 5 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use finite-dimensional -modules or finite -free lattices. We use the basic relative-projectivity facts that Krull-Schmidt decomposition holds with local endomorphism rings, module vertices are conjugate p-subgroups, and a module source at a module vertex satisfies and . Module induction is transitive and Mackey restriction formula gives module vertex containment for restrictions and inductions. In particular, a summand induced from has module vertex conjugate into , and module restriction to a subgroup containing a chosen module vertex retains a summand with that module vertex. The latter follows from the module source conditions and minimality: restricting further to must still contain its module source, whose module vertex is .
The module vertex- form of Green correspondence states that for there is a bijection between indecomposable -modules with module vertex and indecomposable -modules with module vertex . Its maps select the unique module vertex- summands of module restriction and induction, using -conjugacy for restricted module vertices and -conjugacy for induced module vertices. They occur with multiplicity one and have the same module sources. Other induction summands have module vertices conjugate to proper subgroups of . The module restriction remainder is relatively projective forRelative projectivity for a family means being a summand of a finite sum of inductions from its members. We prove this form; no stronger description of the induction remainder is needed for the application.
Let have module vertex over . The identity double coset in Mackey restriction formula givesSince is relatively -projective, a further Mackey decomposition puts every other double coset term in the relatively- family. No member of contains an -conjugate of . Otherwise, conjugation within would give with , . Equality of orders then makes , a contradiction. Therefore the module restriction above contains exactly one summand with module vertex -conjugate to , namely once.
Decompose into indecomposable modules. All their module vertices are conjugate into . Each one with a module vertex -conjugate to can take itself as module vertex and contributes a module vertex- summand on module restriction to . There can thus be at most one such summand and its multiplicity is one. There must be at least one, because smaller module vertices cannot restrict to produce , with module vertex , in the displayed decomposition. Define to be that summand. Its module restriction contains once, with remainder a summand of . All other induction summands have strictly smaller module vertices. This is Green correspondence from Mackey multiplicity.
Conversely take of module vertex over with module source . Decompose into indecomposable modules. Since , the local endomorphism ring and Krull-Schmidt decomposition give for one indecomposable summand of . Its module vertex is -conjugate to : all module vertices are conjugate into , and a smaller one could not induce . The preceding uniqueness makes and identifies as the unique module vertex- summand of . Define . This proves and .
If is a module source of , then and . These two conditions and the common module vertex show that is also a module source of . Thus the correspondence preserves module sources, including trivial source modules, and the proof is complete under the stated coefficient conventions.
For the required expression, a p-local module is a finite sum of inductions from for nontrivial p-subgroups . Induct on the order of a module vertex of . Vertex 1 makes projective, so choose , .
For module vertex , take for . Its module induction is p-local andwith smaller module vertices for the . By induction, writewith p-local and projective. Adding these identities and substituting the induction decomposition givesHence the explicit choiceswork. All sums are finite and module vertex orders strictly decrease, so the induction terminates. If , induction from that normalizer is still allowed by the definition of p-local.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 4 1 Solution 2026-10-14
Write . An idempotent is an element with ; it is central idempotent when it commutes with every element of the ring. In a commutative ring centrality is automatic. Two idempotents are orthogonal idempotents if . A nonzero primitive central idempotent cannot be expressed as the sum of two nonzero orthogonal central idempotents; this is primitivity in , not necessarily primitivity in .
A block of a group algebra is an indecomposable two-sided direct-summand ideal of , equivalently an ideal with a primitive central idempotent. Here is the equivalence. If as two-sided ideals, then . Write with . Multiplication by this equality shows that is the identity of , that is the identity of , and that are orthogonal central idempotents. Conversely a central idempotent gives . Splitting the ideal further is therefore equivalent to splitting its central idempotent further.
For uniqueness, suppose are decompositions into primitive central idempotents. For each ,is an orthogonal central-idempotent decomposition. Exactly one summand is nonzero, and that summand equals . Applying the same reasoning to the corresponding gives . Thus the blocks, and their identities, are unique up to ordering. Existence in the paper's coefficient rings follows from finite-dimensionality over , and over from completeness and idempotent lifting of the decomposition modulo its maximal ideal.
Over , a principal indecomposable module is an indecomposable summand of the regular left module , equivalently for a primitive idempotent of . Put , the Jacobson radical. The head of a module is nonzero and semisimple. It is simple: projectivity gives a surjectionwhose kernel consists of maps into and is nilpotent, since a product of such maps sends into . If the head of a module split, a nontrivial projection on it would lift by idempotent lifting to a nontrivial projection on , contradicting indecomposability. Every maximal submodule contains , since annihilates simple modules. The simplicity of the head of a module now proves is the unique maximal submodule, and is its head of a module's projective cover.
Choose the simple modules , with corresponding projective covers . Our convention for the Cartan matrix of a group algebra iswhere brackets denote the multiplicity in a composition series.
For the final two unheaded requests, retain the additional hypothesis . Choose a central subgroup of of order . Every element of centralizes , and so does every element of ; hence . Set , so is central and , and .
To lift a central idempotent of this quotient, first lift it as an idempotent by idempotent refinement theorem. Since is central, . Multiplying a representation on the left and right by givesThe other off-diagonal corner vanishes likewise, so is central. Two central lifts of the same idempotent coincide: their mismatched products and are idempotents in the nilpotent kernel and therefore zero. Primitivity is preserved because orthogonal idempotent decompositions lift. Thus the central -quotient gives a bijection of block idempotents.
The quotient still satisfies the required hypothesis for , because the image of centralizes . Induction on therefore proves bijects the block idempotents of and . The centrality argument is essential: a general nilpotent algebra quotient need not give a bijection of central block idempotents.
For the Cartan matrix of a group algebra, every projective -module is free over : is free over , a projective -module is a summand of a finite free -module, and finite projectives over the local ring are free. If is a principal indecomposable module, is a principal indecomposable module over : an idempotent splitting of its endomorphism ring would lift and split . The quotients of its filtrationare all isomorphic to as -modules, by multiplication by the corresponding power of . All simple modules are annihilated by the nilpotent ideal . Hence , with the natural indexing of simple modules, and . Iterating over givesThis is blocks and Cartan matrices under central p-quotients. The extra hypothesis is still in force: for example in characteristic three does not satisfy it, and its Group algebra Cartan matrix is rather than .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 4 2 Solution 2026-10-14
Use the usual Krull–Schmidt theorem setting, in which indecomposable summands have local endomorphism rings; the paper's rings satisfy it for the subgroups involved. The relative projective module condition for means that is a direct summand of a module induced from , equivalently, is a summand of . A vertex of an indecomposable module is an inclusion-minimal such subgroup. A source of an indecomposable module at its module vertex is an indecomposable -summand of such that .
Existence of a module source follows by decomposing and using Krull–Schmidt theorem on the induced decomposition: the indecomposable summand must occur in the induction of one indecomposable summand . Such has module vertex as a -module, since relative projectivity of for a proper subgroup would make relatively projective for that subgroup.
In the paper's modular coefficient rings, an indecomposable module is a trivial source module when its module source is the rank-one trivial module of its module vertex. It is then a summand of , a permutation module. Conversely suppose is an indecomposable summand of a permutation module. Restriction to a module vertex is a sum of modules , one for each -orbit of the permutation basis. For a -group , each transitive permutation module is indecomposable: over it has simple head of a module over the local ring , and over a nontrivial splitting would give a nontrivial splitting after reduction. A module source must be one of these summands by Krull–Schmidt theorem. Its module vertex is , whereas is relatively -projective. Thus , and . Therefore trivial module source is equivalent to being an indecomposable permutation-module summand.
The rank-one formulation uses the paper's coefficient rings. If the earlier general coefficient-ring wording were applied to a disconnected ring, it would need qualification: for and , is an indecomposable summand of the permutation module , but is not the rank-one trivial module . One can instead allow indecomposable summands of the trivial coefficient module as module sources in that generality.
For the homomorphism request, take . Frobenius reciprocity and Mackey decomposition giveThe summand for is generated by the sum of the cosets in the -orbit of . The identical orbit-sum construction over gives one copy of per double coset. These are free bases in both characteristics, since invariance means coefficients are constant on orbits, with no division by orbit size. HenceThe same argument applies to direct sums of coset permutation modules.
If is a trivial module source -module, choose a permutation lattice with . Its projection is an idempotent . The endomorphism reduction is surjective by the preceding calculation. Its kernel is , and the endomorphism algebra is complete over . By idempotent refinement theorem, lifts to an idempotent . The lattice is a permutation-module summand, hence a trivial module source lattice, and reduces to .
To prove uniqueness within the class of trivial module source lattices, let be two such lifts. They are summands of permutation lattices. Lift a modular isomorphism and its inverse between them by the same homomorphism-surjectivity argument, inserting the summand projections on either side. The lifted composites are identity modulo and therefore invertible over , by Nakayama lemma or the determinant criterion. The lifted maps are consequently inverse up to an invertible composite and give . Thus each trivial module source module has a unique trivial module source lift up to isomorphism. This is permutation homomorphisms lift through modular reduction; uniqueness is not claimed among arbitrary lattice lifts.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 4 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put and choose a generator of . In characteristic , , soA module is a vector space with a nilpotent operator whose nilpotence index is at most . The nilpotent Jordan normal form, valid over every field, splits it into Jordan blocks. One block of size isIt is indecomposable: its endomorphism ring is , a local ring with no nontrivial idempotents. Distinct have distinct dimensions. Conversely a direct sum of at least two Jordan blocks is decomposable. Thus there are exactly indecomposable isomorphism classes.
A homomorphism is determined by the image of , which can be any element of annihilated by . If this is all of , of dimension ; if it is the span of , of dimension . HenceThis realizes the indecomposable modules for a cyclic p-group.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 4 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let have defect group . Use two vertex-and-source facts, with their relevant content made explicit. Every indecomposable module in has a module vertex conjugate into . Also , as a -module with , is an indecomposable permutation-module summand with module vertex and trivial module source. The second fact is the bimodule characterization of a defect group of a block; the first follows by applying its relative- induction splitting to .
If is cyclic, every module source for every module vertex occurs among the finitely many indecomposable modules for a cyclic p-group. Each module in the block is a summand of an induction of one of these finitely many module sources. There are finitely many subgroups and each induced representation has finitely many indecomposable summands by Krull–Schmidt theorem. Thus cyclic defect implies finite representation type of the block.
For the converse, the restriction has the regular -bimodule as a direct summand. To see this from module vertices and module sources, its Brauer quotient of a module at is nonzero. Its summands are permutation modules for the -group and have module vertices of order at most . A summand detected at therefore has module vertex and trivial module source, hence isHere a transitive permutation module for a -group is indecomposable: it has one-dimensional head of a module over the local group algebra and cannot split into two nonzero modules. This also explains the Brauer-quotient detection used in the argument.
For any -module , tensor that split bimodule inclusion with . It giveswhere denotes being a direct summand. If has only finitely many indecomposable modules , each is a sum of these. Therefore every indecomposable must occur among the summands of the finite list . Thus has finite representation type.
A noncyclic -group has a quotient : its Frattini quotient has rank at least two, since a one-generator Frattini quotient forces the group itself to be cyclic. Inflation along this quotient embeds all the indecomposable modules of that elementary abelian group, preserving isomorphisms and indecomposability. Part (b) rules out finite type when is infinite.
The conclusion remains valid if the splitting field is finite. For completeness, replace the scalar parameter in part (b) by an companion matrix of an irreducible polynomial . On useAn endomorphism commuting with these has form with . Its endomorphism ring has a square-zero ideal of the -matrices and quotient , a field, so it is local and the module is indecomposable. Finite fields have irreducible polynomials of arbitrarily large degrees, giving infinitely many dimensions. This also excludes noncyclic in that case. Altogether,
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 4 5 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put . By equivariance of the Brauer homomorphism, is a central idempotent of , since . The Nagao module theorem asserts that, if , thenand every indecomposable summand of is relatively projective for a -subgroup of not containing . Because is normal in , its module vertices cannot contain even after -conjugation.
Here is a direct proof. As an element of , is a linear combination of -conjugation orbit sums supported outside . An orbit represented by has sumIts stabilizer does not contain . On , the element acts as the identity. Map the orbit-sum expression into by left multiplication, and compose on both sides with the -linear projection onto . It follows thatReplace each centralizer by a Sylow -subgroup of it using trace transitivity and its invertible prime-to- index. Project this identity further onto an indecomposable summand of . Its endomorphism ring is local by Krull–Schmidt theorem. A sum of nonunits cannot be the identity in a local ring, so one of the trace terms is a unit in . Multiplying the endomorphism inside that trace by gives as a single relative trace. The D. Higman criterion makes relatively projective for that Sylow subgroup , and . This proves the assertion rather than just invoking the theorem's name.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 8 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A uniform module is a nonzero module in which any two nonzero submodules intersect nontrivially. An essential extension means that is an essential submodule of : every nonzero submodule of meets . Since is a left Noetherian ring, the finitely generated is a Noetherian module.
Every nonzero Noetherian module contains a uniform submodule. Otherwise split a nonuniform submodule into two disjoint nonzero submodules, retain one for further splitting and set the other aside. If no uniform submodule is reached, the pieces set aside form an infinite direct sum, whose partial sums contradict the ascending chain condition. Now successively choose uniform submodules disjoint from the current direct sum. The process again must stop by Noetherianity, giving . At termination no nonzero submodule is disjoint from , soThis proves the finite uniform decomposition of a Noetherian module.
An injective hull is an injective module containing essentially. It is equivalently a minimal injective extension; we use the general existence theorem for injective hulls. To prove uniqueness, let be two hulls of . Injectivity of extends the identity on to . Its kernel is disjoint from and therefore zero by essentiality. Its image is injective, so its inclusion splits in . The complementary summand is disjoint from , hence zero. Thus is an isomorphism fixing .
A finite direct sum of injective modules is injective, and a finite direct sum of essential inclusions is essential. For the latter assertion, start with a nonzero vector and process its coordinates in turn: if a coordinate lies outside its specified essential submodule, multiply by a ring element taking that coordinate nontrivially into that submodule. Already processed coordinates stay inside their submodules; the chosen coordinate keeps the vector nonzero. Essentiality is also transitive. Consequently both and are injective hulls of , so uniqueness givesThe essential extension of a uniform module is uniform, since intersecting any two nonzero submodules with the original uniform module already gives a nonzero common intersection.
Write and . If is injective, its image is isomorphic to the injective module , hence is a direct summand. Uniformity leaves no nonzero complementary summand, so is an automorphism. Therefore the nonunits are exactly the noninjective endomorphisms. Let be their set. Two such maps have nonzero kernels, whose intersection is nonzero by uniformity; their sum kills this intersection. For a product, composition on the left preserves the original kernel. Composition on the right either has a noninjective right factor, or that factor is an automorphism and transports the original nonzero kernel. Thus is a proper two-sided ideal. Every element outside is a unit, so every nonzero residue class is invertible and every proper left or right ideal is contained in . This proves the local endomorphism ring of a uniform injective module assertion:For the whole hull, let . Its endomorphism ring is the ring of finite block matriceswith multiplication given by summing compositions. The diagonal entries have the local rings just proved. Off-diagonal entries are homomorphism groups, not necessarily zero; in particular this ring is not generally the product of its diagonal rings. Repeated isomorphic summands give matrix blocks over their common local endomorphism ring.
For the left regular module of , the Bernstein filtration has graded ring , so finite leading-term cancellation proves that is left and right Noetherian and a domain. Let be its classical division ring of fractions. It is an essential extension of : a nonzero fraction satisfies in .
To prove that is injective, use the Baer criterion. For a homomorphism on a nonzero left ideal, fix . For any nonzero , take common left multiples with . Then , so in the division ringThus right multiplication by extends from to . The zero ideal is harmless. Hence is injective and . For any -linear endomorphism of , clearing the left denominator in gives . These are all right multiplications, and their composition reverses the multiplying elements. ThereforeThe opposite ring in the injective hull of an Ore domain computation is essential for left-module conventions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 23 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Fix a separable closure . The Tate module and rational Tate module arewhere the transition maps are multiplication by . Since is different from the characteristic, and these transition maps are surjective. Choosing compatible bases gives , and . Both spaces carry the natural continuous action of the absolute Galois group of and of the base-defined endomorphism ring of an elliptic curve.
For (i), choose a nonrational . Such an element exists because the intersection of the given two-dimensional rational subalgebra with the integral endomorphism ring contains a full lattice. The characteristic equation of an elliptic endomorphism isSince is nonrational, its minimal polynomial over has degree two. Comparing the two monic equations gives and . The same is the characteristic polynomial on the rational Tate module: the Weil pairing gives determinant , and applying it to gives trace . Thus on the characteristic polynomial isIf is a quadratic field over , a unital -action on this two-dimensional -space makes it a one-dimensional -space. If , the two roots above are distinct in and their eigenspaces each have dimension one. The two idempotent factors therefore have equal rank one, so the module is again free of rank one. This also proves faithfulness in the split case. Hence
For (ii), first prove an integral divisibility statement. If maps into , then its induced action on is zero. The kernel of an isogeny of is therefore contained in the kernel of . The quotient property of this isogeny of elliptic curves gives a unique endomorphism withThis factorization is defined over : applying any descent automorphism preserves it, and uniqueness fixes . Inside the rational endomorphism ring, belongs to , so . ConsequentlyHere the prime-to-characteristic torsion is étale, so vanishing on its geometric points is vanishing on the entire kernel scheme.
Every element of preserves the Tate module by continuity. Conversely suppose preserves it. Choose with , and approximate it by modulo . Write with . Then , so the divisibility statement gives . It follows that . Thus the CM Tate module stabilizer isThis does not presume freeness of the integral Tate module over a nonmaximal order.
For (iii), every element of is defined over , so the Galois representation commutes with and therefore with . By (i), its action on is multiplication by an element of . The action and its inverse preserve ; by (ii), this scalar and its inverse belong to . Hence
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 2 4 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take the Kronecker quiver, with two arrows . There are no paths of length two, so its path algebra has basis and dimension four.
For each , take a quiver representation with one-dimensional spaces at both vertices and arrow maps . An endomorphism consists of scalars with from the first arrow; the second imposes no further condition. Its endomorphism ring is therefore , which has no nontrivial idempotent. Thus the representation is indecomposable. An isomorphism to the representation again requires , and the second arrow then gives . Because an algebraically closed field is infinite, this gives infinitely many pairwise nonisomorphic indecomposables. Hence
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 3 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Write a finite quiver as , with vertex and arrow sets and source/target maps. A representation of a quiver assigns a vector space to each vertex and a linear map to each arrow. A quiver representation morphism is a family satisfying .
The path algebra has every directed path, including each length-zero path , as a basis. Multiplication is composition when endpoints match, and zero otherwise; in , the path is traversed first. The orthogonal idempotents satisfy .
The path-algebra module equivalence is explicit. From a representation, form , let project onto , and let each path act by the composite of its arrow maps. Conversely, an -module gives and . An -module homomorphism restricts to the required vertex maps, and a compatible family extends by direct sum. These constructions are mutually inverse up to their evident natural identifications.
is finite-dimensional exactly when is finite and has no oriented cycle. For a finite acyclic quiver, paths have length at most . An oriented cycle has arbitrarily many distinct powers, giving infinitely many basis paths. If arbitrary infinite quivers are allowed, finiteness of both vertices and arrows is also necessary; the unital module correspondence above uses finite .
Choose only the orientation . The interval representations of an equioriented three-vertex quiver have at vertices , zero elsewhere, and identity arrows within that interval. The complete list isHere is an elementary proof, without the Gabriel theorem. For , set . Choose complementing in , complementing in , and complementing in . Then , and is injective on . Lift bases of to a complement of in , and extend the bases of to . These bases split into precisely the six kinds of interval block. Every block has endomorphism ring , hence is indecomposable, and their different supports make them pairwise nonisomorphic. The same basis argument handles arbitrary vertex dimensions; each indecomposable block itself is finite-dimensional.