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A complex nilpotent matrix of size six is determined up to matrix similarity by its matrix rank and nilpotency index. Its Nilpotent Jordan block sizes form an integer partition of six. If there are $k$ blocks and the largest size is $m$, then its matrix rank is $6-k$ and its minimal polynomial is $t^m$. The eleven possible size lists areNo two have the same pair $(m,k)$, which proves the assertion by Jordan normal form. The dimension restriction matters: in size seven, block lists $(3,3,1)$ and $(3,2,2)$ both have matrix rank four and minimal polynomial $t^3$, but give different Jordan normal forms.

A cube root of a matrix $A$ is a square matrix $B$ of the same size over the specified field satisfying $B^3=A$. Every complex invertible matrix has one: put it in Jordan normal form, choose a scalar cube root of each nonzero eigenvalue, and apply the truncated binomial cube root of the identity plus a nilpotent matrix on each block. The Nilpotent Jordan block $J_3(0)$ has none, even though its square is nonzero. If $B^3=J_3(0)$, then $B^9=0$, making $B$ a nilpotent matrix of size three; the Cayley-Hamilton theorem then gives $B^3=0$, a contradiction.

For a nilpotent linear map with minimal polynomial $x^m$, set $K_i=\ker T^i$ and $d_i=\dim K_i$, with $d_0=0$. ThenFor strictness, choose $w$ with $T^{m-1}w\ne 0$. The vector $T^{m-1-i}w$ belongs to $K_{i+1}\setminus K_i$ for $0\le i<m$. For the second inequality, the rank-nullity theorem givesThe first image is contained in the second because $T(K_{i+1})\subseteq K_i$.

If the Nilpotent Jordan block sizes are $s_1,\dots ,s_r$, thenThus successive increments count the Jordan blocks reaching a given size, and $(d_i-d_{i-1})-(d_{i+1}-d_i)$ counts blocks of size exactly $i$, with $d_{m+1}=d_m$. The nullities determine the entire Jordan normal form. Conversely any positive nonincreasing integer increments summing to $\dim V$ are realized by taking the corresponding numbers of each Nilpotent Jordan block.

The Kronecker quiver has two vertices and two parallel arrows from the first to the second. For a representation with arrows $I,N$, an endomorphism consists of the same matrix at both vertices and must commute with $N$. If $N$ is a single Nilpotent Jordan block, this centralizer is $k[N]$, yielding an indecomposable non-brick when the block size exceeds one.

By Jordan normal form, each complex nilpotent matrix of size six can be put by matrix similarity into a block diagonal matrix whose Nilpotent Jordan blocks have sizesA Nilpotent Jordan block of size $s$ has matrix rank $s-1$ and minimal polynomial $t^s$. Therefore, for the whole matrix,Thus the given matrix rank determines the number $k$ of Jordan blocks, and the given minimal polynomial determines the largest size $s_1$. For size six these two data determine the entire integer partition. Here is the complete list, arranged by the largest size:To see that the list is exhaustive, choose the largest part $s_1$ between one and six and partition the remainder $6-s_1$ into parts at most $s_1$. The resulting rows all have distinct pairs $(s_1,k)$. Hence $A$ and $B$ have the same Jordan normal form $J$.

Explicitly, choose invertible matrices $X,Y$ such that $A=XJ{X}^{-1}$ and $B=YJ{Y}^{-1}$. ThenThis proves matrix similarity and illustrates the classification of six-dimensional nilpotent matrices by rank and nilpotency index.

Take the Nilpotent Jordan blockThenSuppose that a complex matrix $B$ of size three satisfied $B^3=A$. We would have $B^9=A^3=0$, so $B$ would be a nilpotent matrix. Every eigenvalue of $B$ must then be zero: if $Bv=\theta v$ with $v\ne 0$, applying $B^9$ gives ${\theta }^{9}v=0$. Its characteristic polynomial is therefore $t^3$, and the Cayley-Hamilton theorem gives $B^3=0$. This contradicts $B^3=A\ne 0$. HenceThe obstruction is that a nilpotent matrix of size three cannot have nilpotency index greater than three.

We construct a cube root of a matrix on each Jordan block. Since $A$ is an invertible matrix over the complex numbers, its Jordan normal form isConsider one block $J_m(\lambda )=\lambda I+N$, where $N=J_m(0)$ is a Nilpotent Jordan block and $N^m=0$. Choose a complex cube root $\beta$ of $\lambda$, so ${\beta }^3=\lambda$.

We need a polynomial $q(z)$ with constant term one satisfyingThis can be constructed using only polynomial multiplication. Write $q(z)=1+{\sum }_{j=1}^{m-1}{c}_j{z}^j$. Once $c_1,\dots ,c_{j-1}$ have been chosen, the coefficient of $z^j$ in $q(z{)}^3$ is $3c_j$ plus an expression depending only on those earlier coefficients. Choose $c_j$ to make this coefficient one at $j=1$ and zero at $2\le j<m$. Division by three is possible over the complex numbers, so the recursion always succeeds. Its first coefficients areThis is the truncated binomial cube root of the identity plus a nilpotent matrix; equivalently $c_j=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{1/3}{j}\right)$, where the generalized binomial coefficient is $\alpha (\alpha -1)\cdots (\alpha -j+1)/j!$ and the empty product is one.

Substitute $z=N/\lambda$. The polynomial remainder is a multiple of $N^m$, hence zero. It follows thatFor $m=1$, take $q=1$, so the same construction covers single-entry blocks. Assemble the block diagonal matrix $C={⨁}_r{C}_{m_r}({\lambda }_r)$. Taking matrix powers respects these blocks, and conjugating back givesThus every invertible matrix over the complex numbers has at least one cube root of a matrix. The construction uses only finitely many matrix powers.

The increments ${\Delta }_i=d_i-d_{i-1}$ are positive integers by part (a)(i), are nonincreasing by part (a)(ii), and sum to $d_m=4$. Thus they form an integer partition of $4$. The complete list is $(4)$, $(3,1)$, $(2,2)$, $(2,1,1)$, and $(1,1,1,1)$.

To prove all five occur over every field, let $J_s(0)$ be a Nilpotent Jordan block of size $s$. It sends each standard basis vector to its predecessor, with the first sent to zero, soFor a block diagonal matrix, the nullities add. The following explicit nilpotent matrices therefore realize every possible sequence:In each row the largest Jordan block size is exactly the nilpotency index $m$, so the displayed sequence stops at the correct place.

Direct matrix multiplication gives $A^2=0$. Denote the columns by $c_1,\dots ,c_4$; they satisfyThus the matrix rank is at most two. Over the real numbers or complex numbers, the upper-left two-by-two minor is $-3\ne 0$, so the matrix rank is exactly two. Every Jordan block has size at most two because $A^2=0$, and each size-two Nilpotent Jordan block contributes one to the matrix rank. ConsequentlyEquivalently the nullities are $(2,4)$ and the minimal polynomial is $x^2$.

There is a field qualification in the source: Question 2 initially allows an arbitrary field, and part (c) does not specify a new one. The preceding answer holds over every field whose characteristic is not three. In characteristic three, the first row vanishes and the other three rows all become $(2,1,0,2)$, giving matrix rank one while $A^2=0$. Under that reading the answer is instead

Work in the finite-dimensional vector space $V$ implicit in the requested matrix representation and $n=\dim V$. Put $K_j=\ker {\alpha }^j$, with $K_0=0$. These form an increasing sequence ending in $K_m=V$, and $\alpha (K_j)\subseteq K_{j-1}$. Choose a basis of $K_1$, extend it to a basis of $K_2$, and continue until a basis of $V$ is obtained. Each basis vector introduced at stage $j$ maps into the span of vectors chosen at earlier stages. Its matrix column can therefore have nonzero entries only in earlier rows. This proves that the matrix is strictly upper triangular.

For a strictly upper-triangular $n\times n$ matrix $N$, a nonzero contribution to $(N^r{)}_{ij}$ requires an index chain $i<i_1<\cdots <i_{r-1}<j$. No such chain has $n$ links among $n$ indices. Consequently $\boxed{{\alpha }^n=0}$. An example with exact index four is the Nilpotent Jordan blockHere $M^3$ has entry one in position $(1,4)$ and all others zero, while $M^4=0$.

In the adapted basis, $I+A$ is upper triangular with diagonal entries one, so all its eigenvalues are one. This does not persist for the product of two such matrices with unrelated adapted bases. TakeBoth square to zero, buthas characteristic polynomial $t^2-3t+1$ and eigenvalues $(3\pm \sqrt{5})/2$, neither equal to one. The obstruction is that the two nilpotent matrices need not admit a common triangularizing basis.

First consider finite-dimensional Lie algebra representations. The operators representing an abelian Lie algebra commute. They have a common eigenvector: take an eigenspace for the first operator of a basis of the algebra, observe that every remaining operator preserves it, and repeat inside this nonzero space. The resulting line is an invariant subspace, so an irreducible representation must be one-dimensional. Its action has the form $xv=\lambda (x)v$ for a linear functional $\lambda$. Conversely, every such functional defines a Lie algebra representation, since both the Lie brackets in the algebra and the commutators of its scalar operators vanish. Distinct functionals give nonisomorphic representations. Thus the irreducibles are precisely the characters $\lambda \in {\mathfrak{g}}^{\ast }$.

Even without a finite-dimensional assumption on the module, this conclusion for a finite-dimensional abelian Lie algebra follows from the Weak Hilbert Nullstellensatz: its universal enveloping algebra is the polynomial algebra $\mathrm{Sym}(\mathfrak{g})$. A simple module over a commutative algebra is its quotient by a maximal ideal, and every maximal ideal of this polynomial algebra over $\mathbb{C}$ has residue field $\mathbb{C}$.

Indecomposable does not imply irreducible. For the one-dimensional abelian Lie algebra $\mathbb{C}x$, let $x$ act on ${\mathbb{C}}^2$ by the Nilpotent Jordan blockThe line spanned by the first coordinate vector is an invariant subspace, so the module is reducible. If it were a direct sum of two nonzero submodules, both would have dimension one; nilpotence would force $N$ to act as zero on both, contrary to $N\ne 0$. Thus it is an indecomposable representation.

For a finite-dimensional module $V$, put $d=\dim V$ and define its generalized weight spaces intrinsically byTo obtain the decomposition, choose a basis $x_1,\dots ,x_r$ of $\mathfrak{g}$, split into generalized eigenspaces of $\rho (x_1)$, and successively split each piece by $\rho (x_2),\dots ,\rho (x_r)$. All the pieces are submodules because the acting operators commute. On one resulting piece, $\rho (x_j)$ has a unique eigenvalue ${\lambda }_j$. The commuting operators can be simultaneously upper triangularized by repeating the common-eigenvector argument on quotients. Hence on this piece every $\rho (x_j)-{\lambda }_{j}I$ is strictly upper triangular. Any linear combination is also strictly upper triangular, and its $d$th power vanishes. Extending ${\lambda }_j$ linearly therefore identifies the piece with $V^{\lambda }$. Different tuples give disjoint pieces; if a component has a different tuple from $\lambda$, at least one $\rho (x_j)-\lambda (x_j)I$ is invertible there. Consequentlywith only finitely many nonzero summands. Since the definition uses every $x$ rather than a chosen basis, this generalized-weight decomposition for a nilpotent Lie algebra is canonical. Its summands need not be irreducible, as the Jordan block example already shows.

An $A$-module is a semisimple module when it is a direct sum of simple modules, equivalently when every submodule has a complementary submodule. The finite-dimensional algebra $A$ is a semisimple algebra when its left regular module ${}_{A}A$ is semisimple.

Let $C_{p^n}=⟨g⟩$, put $N=p^n$, and suppose $\mathrm{char}k=p$. The freshman's dream givesso, with $u=g-1$,The indecomposable modules of a cyclic p-group in characteristic p are preciselyIndeed, a module is a vector space with a nilpotent operator $u$, and its decomposition into Nilpotent Jordan blocks gives these modules. Each $M_r$ is a uniserial module, with unique chainTherefore

The Nilpotent Jordan block $J_d$ shifts each standard basis vector one place toward the first coordinate. ThereforeThus $J_d^0=I$, for $1\le n<d$ the matrix has ones precisely on its $n$th superdiagonal, and

No. Let $\mathfrak{g}={\mathfrak{sl}}_2$, let $\mathfrak{s}=\mathbb{C}e$ be the one-dimensional subalgebra generated by the standard raising operator, and let $L={\mathbb{C}}^2$ be the irreducible defining representation. On restriction to $\mathfrak{s}$, the element $e$ acts by a nonzero Nilpotent Jordan block. A direct sum of irreducible representations of the one-dimensional abelian Lie algebra would make $e$ diagonalizable, so this restriction is not completely reducible. The complete reducibility of semisimple Lie algebra representations applies when the restricting algebra is semisimple, which $\mathfrak{s}$ is not.