Past exam of the algebra course of the University of Oxford / 2011 / 2 / a

The Jordan–Hölder theorem applies to a module of finite length: ifis a composition series of a module, its successive quotients are simple modules. Any two such composition series of a module have the same length $r$, and their composition factors are pairwise isomorphic after a permutation, with multiplicities preserved. Every finite-dimensional module over $A$ has finite length, since strict inclusions increase vector-space dimension. A finite-dimensional algebra over a field does not by itself make every possible module finite-dimensional, so the finite-length hypothesis should be retained in the statement.

For $a\in A$, $m\in M$,Additivity and complex linearity follow from those of $f$ and multiplication in $A$, so $f\cdot x$ is an module homomorphism. In particular the action stays inside $V$. Associativity givesBoth distributive laws hold pointwise. These are exactly the axioms for a right module, proving ${\mathrm{Hom}}_A(M,A)$ is a right $A$-module.

By the Artin–Wedderburn theorem, a finite-dimensional complex simple algebra is $M_d(\mathbb{C})$, with a unique simple module up to isomorphism, namely the column module $S={\mathbb{C}}^d$. Its left regular module is $S^{\oplus d}$. The Schur lemma gives ${\mathrm{End}}_A(S)=\mathbb{C}$, soThe right action can be seen explicitly. For a row vector $r$, the map $f_r(m)=mr$ is $A$-linear, and all such maps are obtained this way, since the row space and $V_M$ both have dimension $d$. Moreover $f_r\cdot x=f_{rx}$. Any nonzero row generates the whole row space under right multiplication by matrices: if $r_j\ne 0$, suitable matrix units send it to each coordinate row. Thus $V_M$ is a simple right $A$-module.