This is , a connected linear algebraic group by the units of a finite-dimensional algebra argument. It is the stabilizer under base change. For , reduction modulo the radical gives quotient .
Jordan decomposition in an affine algebraic group Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
This is the multiplicative Jordan–Chevalley decomposition in a linear algebraic group. Every element of an affine algebraic group has unique commuting semisimple and unipotent parts such that . The construction agrees with the multiplicative Jordan decomposition in every rational representation.
An algebraic group is connected when its underlying Zariski topology is a connected space. An unipotent algebraic group is a linear algebraic group whose elements, in a faithful matrix realization, satisfy that is nilpotent. A reductive algebraic group, in the connected convention, is a connected linear algebraic group whose unipotent radical is trivial: it has no nontrivial connected normal unipotent algebraic subgroup.
Let . It is a finite-dimensional associative algebra, and . The latter is the nonempty open subset where the determinant on is nonzero. Since the affine space is irreducible, this open subset is irreducible and hence connected. It is a linear algebraic group: within it is cut out by the linear equations of preserving the vertex summands and commuting with the arrow maps. Thus the automorphism group is connected.
By the Krull–Schmidt theorem, write , with pairwise nonisomorphic indecomposables . The Fitting lemma makes each a local algebra. Its residue division algebra is : every element of a finite-dimensional division algebra over the algebraically closed field has an eigenvalue for left multiplication, and subtracting that scalar gives a noninvertible element, hence zero.
The standard radical description of the endomorphism algebra of a Krull-Schmidt decomposition therefore gives
Concretely, maps between nonisomorphic summands lie in the radical, while on each isotypic block one reduces all entries modulo the local radical. The off-diagonal rule follows because a composition cannot be a unit for : it would split off the indecomposable , forcing an isomorphism. The finite-dimensional radical description then identifies the kernel of this block reduction with . Put . The Jacobson radical of the finite-dimensional algebra is nilpotent, so every is a unit and is unipotent on . Also is closed, being the translate of the linear subspace , and normal, being the kernel of
This map has an explicit algebraic section: after fixing the direct-sum decomposition, a matrix acts on the copies by . These block actions give a subgroup with trivial intersection with . Every unit is uniquely a product of an element of and one of . Hence
This Levi decomposition of a quiver automorphism group holds in every characteristic; the section is constructed directly from the multiplicity spaces.
Unipotent radical 2026-10-06
It is the largest connected normal unipotent subgroup of a linear algebraic group. A connected reductive algebraic group has trivial unipotent radical. The subgroup of a finite-dimensional algebra's unit group is closed, connected and unipotent.
The unit group is a nonempty open subset of the affine space , detected by the determinant of left multiplication. It is therefore an irreducible connected linear algebraic group. Its map to has kernel , a closed unipotent subgroup since the radical is nilpotent.