Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 3 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
On , define the permutation and diagonal actions byThe inverse in the first formula gives a left action. Applying to every tensor factor and then reordering produces the same tensor as reordering and then applying . Thus the two actions commute. The Schur algebra isIt is the commutant of an operator algebra of the permutation action.
To identify this commutant, use the multilinear isomorphismConjugation by a permutation reorders the factors on the right. Therefore the invariant subspace is the space of symmetric tensors of degree in . It is spanned by . Indeed, the polarization identityexpresses every symmetrized elementary tensor as a linear combination of pure powers. Those symmetrized elementary tensors span the invariant subspace in characteristic zero.
One may restrict to invertible endomorphisms without changing the span. For fixed , the vector-valued polynomial has degree at most . Choose distinct values of away from the finitely many roots of . Polynomial interpolation expresses its constant term as a linear combination of those invertible tensor powers. ConsequentlyThe span is an algebra, since products are .
The image of is semisimple, as a quotient of a semisimple algebra. The double-centralizer theorem for semisimple operator algebras gives . Since the preceding computation says that is the span of the general linear action, the two actions are mutual commutants. More explicitly, semisimple module decomposition givesHere is the multiplicity space, with its natural general linear action. The commutant algebra is the product of the full endomorphism algebras of these multiplicity spaces. Hence each nonzero is irreducible, and distinct spaces have nonisomorphic general linear representations, because the operators span that commutant. A primitive picks a one-dimensional factor from , so is an equivalent realization of as a Schur module.
The range of shapes is exact. If has more than rows, a column antisymmetrizes more than vectors and its action vanishes by . Conversely, for at most rows place the th basis vector in every tensor position belonging to row of . Row symmetrization multiplies this tensor by . Column antisymmetrization is nonzero, because all vectors within each column are distinct, and its different permutations give distinct basis tensors. Thus . This proves the length bound for a Schur module and the stated Schur–Weyl duality. For , the empty partition and give the trivial version.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 5 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For a Young tableau , let permute the entries within its rows and within its columns. We use the Young symmetrizer conventionReversing the order gives another usual realization of the same irreducible polynomial module. On the tensor power , the actions areThey commute because applying to every factor commutes with permuting the factors.
We state the permitted combinatorial input explicitly. A Young symmetrizer satisfies , where is the nonzero hook product of a partition. Thus is a primitive idempotent. The standard-tableau decomposition of the right regular module is . Tensor this right-module direct sum with the left module . The map sending to is an isomorphism, with inverse . Therefore the Young-symmetrizer tensor decomposition isThis is a direct sum of -modules; individual summands need not be -invariant.
We also state the allowed Schur algebra result, namely Schur–Weyl duality: the two actions are mutual commutants, andwhere the are pairwise nonisomorphic irreducible homogeneous polynomial representations of degree . We also use the standard Schur algebra equivalence between its modules and homogeneous degree- polynomial representations, so these exhaust the irreducibles in that category. A primitive idempotent has one-dimensional image on and zero image on the other simple factors, so . This identifies the requested irreducibles. They classify the polynomial degree- representations in this tensor power, not all rational representations of every degree.
The length bound for a Schur module is if and only if . A column of length greater than antisymmetrizes more than vectors and gives zero. Conversely, for , fill every tensor position in row with the th basis vector of . Row symmetrization multiplies it by , and column antisymmetrization is nonzero because the vectors within each column are distinct basis vectors.
A rational representation of an algebraic group is a regular morphism into the general linear group of its representation space. For , its matrix entries belong to ; rational here permits determinant denominators but not arbitrary poles on . A one-dimensional rational character of is a Laurent polynomial with and . Comparing Laurent coefficients shows that just one monomial occurs and its coefficient is , hence for .
Restrict a one-dimensional rational character of to its diagonal torus. The same argument in several variables gives . Conjugation by permutation matrices makes all equal. On every diagonalizable invertible matrix it consequently agrees with . The allowed Zariski-density statement, and equality of regular functions on a dense subset, giveThese are the one-dimensional rational characters of the general linear group.
For complete reducibility of rational GL and SL representations, use the compact-group averaging argument. Average any positive definite Hermitian inner product over using normalized Haar measure. The orthogonal complement of an invariant subspace is then -invariant. Differentiating makes it invariant under and therefore under its complex span . The elementary unipotent matrices generate , so the complement is -invariant. This proves complete reducibility. Averaging over similarly gives complete reducibility for rational representations.
Here is an explicit rational extension from SL to GL. Decompose the representation space by the finite scalar center of into subspaces on which acts as , with and . These subspaces are invariant. For , choose with , set , and defineChanging to changes to , so the two factors cancel. It is a homomorphism, since scalar roots multiply up to the same harmless factor, and it restricts to on .
It is rational as well. Every matrix coefficient of has a polynomial representative on . Averaging that representative over the finite scalar center selects its homogeneous parts with . Substitution in the extension gives , a regular function on . Each -invariant subspace decomposes into its parts, and the extension acts on each part by a scalar times an action. Thus these subspaces are also invariant under the chosen extension. Consequently is irreducible if and only if this is irreducible. For , is trivial and the trivial extension supplies the same conclusion.