Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 138 4 d Solution 2026-10-03
Suppose first that has only finitely many indecomposable modules . For every indecomposable -module , decompose into the . Relative projectivity makes a summand of the corresponding finite direct sum of the . The Krull–Schmidt theorem leaves only finitely many possible indecomposable summands, so has finite representation type.
Conversely, suppose has finitely many indecomposables. For an indecomposable -module , the identity double coset in the Mackey restriction formula shows that is a direct summand ofDecomposing the induced module into the finitely many -indecomposables and restricting them shows, again by Krull–Schmidt, that only finitely many can occur. Thus
If is cyclic, the indecomposable modules of a cyclic p-group in characteristic p form a finite list. If is noncyclic, its Frattini quotient has rank at least two and therefore has a quotient . Inflation preserves indecomposability and nonisomorphism, while has infinitely many indecomposable modules. The Higman criterion for finite representation type of a group algebra now gives