Set , a multiplicative subset. The localization at a prime ideal is , whose elements are fractions . Equality of two fractions means that for some . Likewise the localization of a module is , with
Addition uses a common denominator, and the module action is
The equivalence relations make these operations well-defined, so is an -module.
If , choose . Its annihilator is proper, so it lies in a maximal ideal . The element cannot vanish in : vanishing would mean for some , contrary to . The converse is immediate by localizing the zero module. Thus
This proof of localization detects zero elements actually applies to arbitrary modules, without finite-generation or Noetherian assumptions. We will use that extra generality for an Ext functor module below.
An injective module has the extension property: for each inclusion , every map extends to a map . Equivalently, is exact. A projective module has the lifting property: for each surjection , every map lifts to . Equivalently, is exact, or is a direct summand of a free module.
For the local criterion for injectivity over a Noetherian ring, recall the Baer criterion: is injective precisely when every map from an ideal into extends to . Through the short exact sequence , this is equivalent to
We also need localization of Ext over a Noetherian ring. Because is Noetherian, the module has a free resolution with every term finitely generated: all successive kernels are finitely generated, so this can be built recursively. For a finite free term , the natural map
is an isomorphism, as is clear from a finite basis. Exactness of localization lets us pass to cohomology of the Hom complex. Therefore
This explains the finiteness hypothesis needed for the localization argument, rather than assuming that localization preserves injectivity automatically.
If is injective, the left-hand side vanishes for every and . Every ideal of is , where is its contraction to : if , then , and conversely localization of a member of the contraction stays in . Hence all ideal tests for vanish, and the Baer criterion over makes injective.
Conversely, suppose every is injective. For each ideal , the displayed Ext functor localization is zero at every prime. The zero-detection argument above gives , without needing this Ext module to be finitely generated. Applying the Baer criterion over proves
In fact, under the Noetherian ring hypothesis this equivalence holds for arbitrary ; the printed finite-generation assumption is more than is needed.
The global dimension is
where projective dimension is the smallest length of a projective resolution, or infinity if there is no finite one. If , every module is projective. Given an inclusion , the quotient is then projective, so the exact sequence splits. A retraction exists. For any module and any map , the composition extends . Thus every module is also injective. Global dimension zero makes all modules both projective and injective, as recorded by global dimension zero and split exact sequences.
For a finite acyclic quiver, the arrow ideal of a path algebra is nilpotent, and . If is a simple module, its submodule is either zero or . The latter would imply for every , contradicting nilpotence. Thus , and a simple module over the product of fields is supported at one coordinate. Therefore the simples are exactly , with at , zero elsewhere, and zero arrows; the vertex is unique.
A finite-dimensional semisimple module is consequently , where . Its dimension vector of a quiver representation determines its isomorphism class.
For an arbitrary finite quiver, cycles allowed, the vertex projective module of a path algebra is . Its space at vertex has basis all paths from to , and an arrow acts by adjoining that arrow at the end of the path. Its endomorphism ring is
where is spanned by the closed paths based at . The opposite multiplication appears because endomorphisms act by right multiplication.
The evaluation isomorphism for a vertex projective is
For , its inverse sends a path starting at to . This proves both injectivity and surjectivity, and is natural in . Vertex evaluation is exact, so is a projective module; alternatively it is a direct summand of the free module .
The closed-path corner of a path algebra is a domain: in a product of two nonzero linear combinations, choose their longest path lengths. Concatenation in that top degree has a unique cut at those lengths, so a product of two nonzero top coefficients cannot cancel. Hence its only idempotents are zero and one. The same is true of the opposite ring, proving is an indecomposable module, even when cycles make it infinite-dimensional.
For , the paths starting at vertex are and the arrow . Thus the displayed is and is projective.
Set , , and let be the action of the arrow on . Write , a left projective module. The standard projective resolution of a quiver representation is
The algebra acts on the first tensor factor. The augmentation is . On the summand for , the differential sends to in the -summand minus in the -summand. Here , so . These formulas specify every term and map, and .
Exactness is the standard path resolution fact: the relations identify a path acting on a vector with successively applying its arrows; uniqueness of the first traversed arrow supplies injectivity of the relation map. Each is a direct summand of because is an idempotent, and tensoring with a -vector space gives a direct sum of copies of . Both terms preceding are consequently projective modules. Thus the displayed sequence is a projective resolution of length at most one.
The same path resolution works for arbitrary left modules, with possibly infinite-dimensional and arbitrary direct sums of projective modules. Hence every left -module has projective dimension at most one. Equivalently, is a left hereditary ring: if with projective, dimension shifting gives for every , so is projective. This argument also covers quivers with oriented cycles.
For dimension vectors , define the Ringel form
Apply to the projective resolution. Evaluation at identifies with . Consequently there is an exact sequence
where
This is the extension complex of quiver representations. Taking its alternating dimension sum yields
Choose a projective presentation , with a projective module. Continuing it to a projective resolution shows
Indeed a degree-one cocycle in the Hom functor applied to the projective resolution descends to , while the degree-one coboundaries are exactly restrictions of maps from . This establishes the description of the Ext functor without first assuming the extension classification.
For a module extension with inclusion and quotient map , projectivity lifts to . Since , there is a unique map with . A different lift changes by for some . An equivalence of module extensions, which is the identity on both end modules, also preserves this class. We have therefore defined a map from extension classes to .
Conversely, for , form the pushout of a module extension
The map sends to , and sends to . The first is injective because is injective. If , write ; then , proving exactness in the middle. The last map is surjective. Thus is a module extension. If , the map is an equivalence of module extensions from to . Finally identifies the pushout of a module extension built from an existing extension with its middle module. These two constructions are inverse, proving the classification:
The zero class corresponds to a split short exact sequence. Fixed end modules matter: equivalence does not permit arbitrary automorphisms of or .
In the second calculation the acting group is the infinite cyclic group. Its modules are modules over the group ring , not merely over the underlying ring . The trivial representation has acting as the identity. Its projective resolution is
Multiplication by is injective, and the augmentation quotient is . Applying the Hom functor into the trivial module makes the differential zero, so . Taking two copies gives .
An explicit representative of this extension of trivial modules for an infinite cyclic group is the abelian group , with injection , quotient , , and action
This is an invertible action: the inverse subtracts the same multiples of . Every underlying abelian-group extension splits because is free, so any group-module extension has this form after choosing lifts of the quotient basis. Replacing those lifts by multiples of does not alter . An equivalence fixing the ends has exactly such changes of lifts, so two representatives are equivalent precisely when their ordered pairs agree. Only splits as a group-module extension; overlooking the group action would incorrectly give a single class.
The Jacobson radical is , where runs over the maximal right ideals of ; equivalently, it is the intersection of the annihilators of all simple modules. It is a two-sided ideal. A projective module has the lifting property against every surjective R-module homomorphism. A finitely generated module is a projective module precisely when it is a direct summand of a finitely generated free module. An indecomposable module is nonzero and admits no direct sum decomposition into two nonzero submodules.
To calculate the top of an indecomposable projective module, use the right Artinian ring hypothesis, namely the descending chain condition on right ideals. The Hopkins-Levitzki theorem gives finite composition length of the right regular module, hence of its submodule . Also is a nilpotent ideal, and is a semisimple ring. Thus the quotient module is a semisimple module; it is nonzero, since would imply for sufficiently large .
Suppose were not a simple module. A nontrivial direct sum decomposition of this semisimple module would give an idempotent that is neither zero nor the identity. Writing , the lifting property of the projective module gives with . The Fitting lemma for an indecomposable module of finite composition length says that is either invertible or a nilpotent element. Its induced map would then be invertible or a nilpotent element, respectively. Neither is possible for a nontrivial idempotent. Therefore is simple. This argument does not assume that an embedded projective module automatically splits off from the ambient module.
A block of an Artinian algebra is a nonzero two-sided direct summand determined by a primitive central idempotent : cannot be written as a sum of two nonzero orthogonal central idempotents. Its identity is . For a finite-dimensional associative algebra, the blocks of an Artinian algebra give its unique decomposition as a finite product of indecomposable algebras, or equivalently as a direct sum of two-sided ideals.
For the block of S3 in characteristic three, put , , and . The group algebra has basis for . In characteristic three,
Consequently is a two-sided nilpotent ideal, , and . A nilpotent ideal lies in the Jacobson radical, and a quotient that is a semisimple ring forces the reverse inclusion. Hence
Define orthogonal idempotents and . They sum to one, so the right regular module decomposes as
The two summands are the indecomposable projectives of S3 in characteristic three. Each direct summand is a projective module, with basis . Its quotient module modulo multiplication by is one-dimensional: the trivial representation for , and the sign representation for . Each is an indecomposable module, since two nonzero direct summands would each have nonzero quotient module modulo , contradicting its one-dimensional top. For additional detail, the successive factors of the radical series of a module are the trivial representation, sign representation, trivial representation for , and the sign representation, trivial representation, sign representation for . Indeed, modulo the relation reverses the -sign, whereas commutes with .
The center of an associative algebra is spanned by the conjugacy class sums , , and . Since and , this center of an associative algebra is
Its vector subspace is a square-zero ideal. If is a central idempotent, then and . Thus or and . There is no nontrivial central idempotent, so the whole group algebra is its single block. The two three-dimensional projective modules above are a decomposition of the regular module, not two blocks of an Artinian algebra.
Put . Since is a projective module, its Hom functor is exact. Applied to , it gives
The kernel is by (ii). Every map to kills and factors uniquely through ; this gives the second isomorphism. Therefore
By (i), is finite free with rank . Its reduction has dimension equal to that rank. Thus reduction of Hom from a projective group-algebra lattice yields
The original PDF has the group-algebra subscripts used here; the supplied TeX drops or corrupts several of them.