For an exhaustive nonnegative increasing multiplicative filtration, each left ideal induces a homogeneous ideal in the associated graded ring. If that graded ring is a left Noetherian ring, lift a finite homogeneous generating set of to elements of . For any element of , subtract a combination of these lifts with the same leading symbol; the remainder has strictly lower degree. Induction on the nonnegative degree proves the lifts generate . There is no completion hypothesis because the cancellation terminates in finitely many steps. The analogous result holds for right ideals.
Cyclic module Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A module is cyclic if one element generates it: every element is for some scalar . The generating element need not give unique coefficients. The module homomorphism , , is surjective. Over a commutative ring, its kernel is the annihilator , givingThus cyclic modules are exactly the quotient modules for ideals in . For a left module over a noncommutative ring, use a left ideal and interpret the quotient as a module, with no claim that it is a quotient ring. See John A. Beachy's Abstract Algebra Online, section 10.1.
The module is generated by , and also by , whose successive multiples are . The element generates only , a submodule with three elements. A cyclic module can be infinite and free, as shows, or finite and torsion, as shows. One generator counts directions of generation, not the number of elements and not freedom from relations.
Maximal left ideal 2026-10-14
A maximal left ideal is a proper left ideal contained in no larger proper left ideal. In a unital Banach algebra it is norm closed: its closure is a left ideal, and if that closure were the entire algebra it would contain elements of within distance less than one of , hence invertible by the Neumann series. A proper left ideal contains no invertible element. The quotient is consequently a quotient Banach space and a simple module.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 2 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put , and . The multiplication of matrix-coordinate triples is . In particular is central, , and every element has the unique normal form . ConsequentlyThe distinct normal-form monomials are the group basis, so this is an isomorphism, not merely a surjection from a presented algebra. This is the integral Heisenberg group algebra as a skew Laurent ring.
Here is the needed skew Hilbert basis theorem, including its proof. If is a left Noetherian ring and an automorphism, let be a left ideal of , where . DefineThese are left ideals of : adding lifts adds the coefficient, and left multiplication by multiplies its normalized value by . Multiplication of a lift by proves . The chain stabilizes at some . Choose finite generators for each , , and lifts with coefficient .
For of degree , write its normalized leading coefficient as . Thenhas smaller degree: the displayed summands have leading coefficients . For use the generators for without the shift. Induction on degree expresses every element of in terms of the finitely many chosen lifts. Thus is a left Noetherian ring. Passing to the opposite ring replaces by and proves the corresponding right-sided result.
This proof includes the ordinary Hilbert basis theorem when is the identity. Starting with the field , it makes Noetherian; localization at powers of makes Noetherian as well. Finally, for a left ideal in , its intersection with has finitely many generators. For each , some lies in , so is generated by those same elements in the skew Laurent polynomial ring. Right multiplication clears powers for a right ideal. Therefore is a left Noetherian ring and a right Noetherian ring.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 2 4 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write the negative filtration as , with . Completeness is used in the separated sense ; in particular the intersection of all filtration terms is zero.
For any left ideal , its induced associated graded ideal is a left ideal of . Choose finite homogeneous generators and lift them to , with orders , meaning . Let . At each order , the leading symbol of the current residual is a sum of the generator symbols with homogeneous coefficients. Lift these coefficients to (zero when ) and subtract . The new residual lies in .
Iterating expresses as partial sums of , with residuals tending to zero. For fixed the successive coefficient increments have orders tending to infinity. Separated completeness therefore supplies . Multiplication is continuous by the multiplicative filtration, soThe sum on the right is finite, despite the convergent process used to obtain its coefficients. It belongs to the actual left ideal generated by the lifts; no assumption that is closed was made. Every left ideal is consequently finitely generated, and is a left Noetherian ring. This is the left-handed complete negative filtered-graded transfer of Noetherianity; the separated-completeness hypothesis is essential to the limiting argument.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 7 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A representation of a Banach algebra is a complex-linear multiplicative map . A nonzero irreducible action of a unital algebra automatically has : the image of the idempotent is a nonzero invariant subspace and hence is all of . An algebraically irreducible representation of a Banach algebra is a nonzero action if it has no nonzero proper invariant submodule, whether closed or not. A normed representation of a Banach algebra has bounded for each on a preassigned normed vector space ; continuity of as an operator-norm-valued map is a further conclusion. This must not be confused with topological irreducibility, which excludes only closed invariant subspaces. Unitizing the algebra extends a nonunital action by , so it is enough to discuss the unital case.
For , irreducibility gives . The annihilator is a maximal left ideal: an intermediate left ideal gives an intermediate submodule of . It is closed by the Neumann-series argument for maximal left ideals. Consequently transports a complete quotient norm to , and left multiplication is contractive in this norm. Every algebraically irreducible representation of a Banach algebra can therefore be realized continuously on a Banach space. This alone does not prove continuity for its preassigned norm.
The kernel of is the intersection of the closed left ideals and is a closed primitive ideal. The Jacobson radical is the intersection of all primitive ideals, equivalently the intersection of maximal left ideals. Thus these quotient representations detect semisimplicity. Equivalent algebra representations are related by a bijective module homomorphism.
The algebra of module endomorphisms is exactly . Indeed, if a module endomorphism sends a fixed cyclic vector to , then . It is induced by bounded right multiplication by on , so is bounded for the quotient norm on an irreducible Banach module. Every nonzero module endomorphism is injective and surjective by irreducibility, and its inverse is bounded by the same argument. This commutant of an operator algebra is a closed division subalgebra of the bounded operators on this Banach module; the Gelfand-Mazur theorem makes it .
The Jacobson density theorem now says that for finitely many linearly independent and arbitrary , one element of sends all to . Here is the induction behind it. The one-vector assertion is . Assuming the first coordinates can be prescribed, set . Its image is an invariant subspace. If it is , it adjusts the last image without changing the first ones. If it is zero, the rule is a well-defined module map . Each coordinate map is scalar by the module endomorphism result, forcing to be a linear combination of the earlier vectors, a contradiction. This proves the assertion.
We can now give Johnson's continuity argument with its crucial construction. If is finite dimensional, the closed kernel has finite codimension and is finite dimensional, so is continuous. Suppose instead that is infinite dimensional. LetThis is an invariant submodule, because the orbit map of is the orbit map of composed with the bounded map . Thus either or .
To rule out , choose linearly independent unit vectors . There are elements such that, with ,For completeness, construct them in the canonical quotient-norm Banach module. At stage the current tail vectors are independent. In the closed left annihilator of its first vector, density permits arbitrary images of any finite list of the remaining vectors. The condition that finitely many such images are independent is open in this Banach subspace and dense: perturb any element by times an element prescribing independent images; a suitable determinant is a nonzero polynomial in , with only finitely many exceptional values. The Baire category theorem intersects these open dense conditions for all initial finite tail lists. The resulting kills the first current vector and retains independence of the entire remaining tail. This is the countable annihilation sequence in an irreducible Banach module.
The gliding-hump continuity principle supplies the other ingredient: if are Banach spaces, is linear, and are bounded, and is continuous whenever , then is continuous eventually. The product form of this principle is recorded in Proposition 1.3 of Thomas's paper. Here is the contradiction mechanism. Rescale so and put . If infinitely many diagonal maps are discontinuous, choose increasing and successively tiny soAlso choose . The convergent sum has, after its th term, a tail factoring through . Applying that continuous composite bounds the tail contribution by one. The display forces , contradicting . Only finite decompositions and the continuous tail composites are used; no unjustified interchange of a discontinuous map with an infinite sum occurs.
Apply this principle with , , where is the completion in the original norm, and the bounded extension of . Set and . ThenFor this is zero, hence continuous. For it is the orbit map of a nonzero vector, hence discontinuous if . This contradicts the principle. Therefore .
Finally, apply the Uniform boundedness principle on the Banach space to the continuous maps indexed by . They are pointwise bounded because each individual is bounded in the original norm. It givesThis proves Johnson's continuity theorem for irreducible normed representations, including when the original normed vector space is incomplete. The quotient norm, countable density construction, and gliding hump explain the substantive steps rather than assuming the desired continuity in advance.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 7 6 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
It suffices first to treat unital algebras and a unital homomorphism. A surjective homomorphism between unital algebras automatically preserves the identity. If , continuity is immediate. In the nonunital case, extend to the forced unitizations by . This is still surjective and the unitization of a semisimple algebra is semisimple: its radical projects to zero in its scalar quotient, and its remaining intersection with the original algebra is its original radical. Continuity of the extension implies continuity of the original map.
An algebra homomorphism decreases the spectral radius, even without any continuity assumption, because it takes an inverse of to an inverse of . Suppose in and in . Fix any and choose with , . PutConsider the polynomial . Its value at one is exactly . On the outer circle ,On the inner circle , spectral-radius decrease givesApplying part (i) in and then letting , with fixed, givesThis holds for every , so for every .
This forces into the Jacobson radical. To see the criterion directly, if were outside a maximal left ideal , then , so for some , . The equality makes invertible, but this element equals , impossible in a proper left ideal. Hence lies in every maximal left ideal. Since is semisimple, .
We have shown that the separating space of is zero. If and , apply the result to to obtain . Its graph is closed, and the closed graph theorem now provesThe crucial estimate uses part (i) with an exactly fixed central value; it does not assume the false general assertion that the spectral radius is continuous under norm limits.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 10 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Suppose and put . If the left ideal were proper, it would lie in a maximal left ideal . But , so would imply . Thus , and has a left inverse with .
A left inverse alone is insufficient in a general operator algebra. Here differs from the identity by an element of . The same argument supplies a left inverse of . Then , hence . So is genuinely invertible.
Conversely, if , part (i) gives a maximal left ideal with . Maximality implies , so for some . Therefore cannot be invertible, since a proper left ideal contains no invertible element. Taking disproves the required universal invertibility. We have proved the unit criterion for the Jacobson radical in the requested form:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 1 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The Hilbert basis theorem says that if is a commutative Noetherian ring, then is Noetherian; iteration treats any finite number of variables. Here is a complete leading-coefficient proof. For an ideal , let be the set of degree- coefficients of its polynomials of degree at most , including zero coefficients. These are ideals of , and multiplication by gives . The ascending chain condition makes the chain stationary from some onward. Choose finite generators for and lift them to polynomials of degree at most . If has degree , set and express its leading coefficient as , where is the chosen degree- coefficient. Then has smaller degree. Induction proves that the finitely many lifts generate . This proves the theorem, including coefficient rings with zero divisors.
Put and . The infinite dihedral group has normal forms and . The relations move every to the right and reduce its exponent modulo two; the action , on shows that these forms are distinct. ThusThe Hilbert basis theorem makes Noetherian, and its localization is Noetherian: an ideal of a localization is generated by the images of the finite generators of its contraction. Since is free of rank two over on the left, it is a Noetherian module over . Every left ideal of is an -submodule, so all its ascending chains stabilize. Therefore is left Noetherian.
For the center of the infinite dihedral group algebra, write an element as . Commuting it with gives in the Laurent integral domain, forcing . Commuting with then gives . A symmetric Laurent polynomial is a linear combination of and , . With , the recursionexpresses as a polynomial in . Conversely every polynomial in is central. The highest Laurent exponent of a nonzero polynomial in shows that is transcendental. HenceThe identities and give . Independence follows by applying to a relation and subtracting: , so . Consequentlyis a free -module of rank four.
Let be a nonzero simple module on the left. For any , , so it is finite over . Every central acts bijectively: its kernel and image are -submodules, and simplicity forces kernel zero and image . To prove that is maximal, not merely prime, put ; then is a faithful finite -module. For , . If generate , write . The adjugate matrix identity for shows that annihilates every generator and hence . Faithfulness makes this determinant zero in . Its constant term is one, so it has form , proving . Thus is a field, and is a maximal ideal of . This proves the general principle for simple modules over an algebra finite over its center in this instance.
Every maximal ideal of is for some , by factorization of complex polynomials. The module is therefore a quotient of the four-dimensional algebra . In particular , as required.
The actual simple dimensions are at most two. If , choose with . The matrices and give a representation of onto : polynomial functions of give the two diagonal matrix units, and multiplication by gives the off-diagonal ones. Both algebras have dimension four, so this is an isomorphism. If , the element has square zero and is conjugated to its negative by ; its generated two-sided ideal is square zero. It annihilates every simple module, since its action on a simple module is either zero or the whole module, and the latter contradicts its square being zero. The remaining quotient is , whose two simple modules have . Thus the generic simple modules have dimension two, and the four exceptional one-dimensional characters have , .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 1 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use generators with . The ordered monomials form a basis: construct the Weyl algebra as the differential Ore extension of with , which has unique ordered polynomial expressions. Giving both generators degree one produces the Bernstein filtration, whose associated graded ring is . If , their nonzero leading symbols have nonzero product in this polynomial integral domain. Thus has nonzero leading symbol and cannot vanish. Hence has no nontrivial zero divisors.
Here is the left-handed Ore theorem. Let be a multiplicative set of regular elements of a ring, containing and excluding . There is an injective Ore localization whose elements are left fractions if and only ifThis is the left Ore condition. For a noncommutative domain, taking gives a division ring exactly when this condition holds. With zero-divisor denominators a further left reversibility condition is needed; the regular-denominator statement is the one used here.
Necessity follows by writing in the quotient and multiplying by and , giving in the embedded original ring. For a construction proving sufficiency, use the left Ore fraction construction: pairs represent , and and are equivalent whenfor suitable . Reflexivity and symmetry are immediate. For transitivity, combine and by a common left multiple . Then , so regularity gives , which combines the numerator equalities and proves transitivity.
Addition uses the common denominator , with numerator . To multiply by , choose with ; setThe Ore condition supplies a common refinement whenever a representative or an Ore relation is changed, and regularity cancels the shared denominator, proving independence of choices. The same refinements verify the ring axioms; the formulas are simply addition and multiplication after clearing left denominators. The map is injective, since equivalence to zero would give with . Each becomes invertible. A homomorphism inverting extends uniquely by , giving the universal property. For all nonzero denominators in a noncommutative domain, a nonzero fraction has inverse , so the quotient is a division ring. This is the requested proof sketch, with the fraction equivalence and multiplication made explicit.
It remains to check the left Ore condition for . Its graded polynomial ring is Noetherian by the Hilbert basis theorem. Lifting homogeneous generators of a graded left ideal and successively cancelling leading symbols proves that the filtered algebra is a left Noetherian ring: each subtraction lowers the nonnegative degree, so it terminates.
In any left Noetherian noncommutative domain, nonzero principal left ideals intersect. Otherwise with would makean infinite direct sum of nonzero left ideals. To verify directness, reduce a finite relation modulo to make its first summand zero, then cancel on the right and repeat. Its increasing finite partial sums contradict the ascending chain condition. A nonzero element of therefore has the form , with , proving the required condition. Consequently has a classical ring of left quotients, and it is a division ring.