Adic completion of a module Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
The adic completion is the inverse limit of the quotient modules . An element is a compatible family of residue classes at every order. For and , this gives the formal power series module . The canonical map from need not be injective in general: its kernel is . It is injective for this polynomial example because a nonzero polynomial has finite degree. Successive changes of coordinates in formal rigidity from vanishing second Hochschild cohomology converge in this completion because the order- change is the identity modulo .
Companion matrix Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-31
For a monic polynomial , its companion matrix represents multiplication by on the quotient module in the basis . With column vectors it has ones on the subdiagonal and last column . For example, . Transposing this matrix gives another common convention, so the subdiagonal convention should be specified when giving entries.
Conormal module of the diagonal Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
For a commutative -algebra , let be the kernel of multiplication . The formula is a derivation of an algebra into the quotient module , with acting through the first factor. It induces an isomorphism from the module of Kähler differentials. An inverse is induced by : the identity shows . For , the equality gives , proving that the two maps are inverse. For an affine variety, is the defining ideal of its diagonal morphism.
Cyclic module Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A module is cyclic if one element generates it: every element is for some scalar . The generating element need not give unique coefficients. The module homomorphism , , is surjective. Over a commutative ring, its kernel is the annihilator , giving
Thus cyclic modules are exactly the quotient modules for ideals in . For a left module over a noncommutative ring, use a left ideal and interpret the quotient as a module, with no claim that it is a quotient ring. See John A. Beachy's Abstract Algebra Online, section 10.1.
The module is generated by , and also by , whose successive multiples are . The element generates only , a submodule with three elements. A cyclic module can be infinite and free, as shows, or finite and torsion, as shows. One generator counts directions of generation, not the number of elements and not freedom from relations.
If a submodule and the quotient module are finitely generated modules, then is a finitely generated module. Choose finitely many generators of and lift finitely many generators of . For any , subtract an -linear combination of the lifts to obtain an element of , then express this using the generators of . The union of the two finite lists generates .
An -module is a finitely generated module if there are such that every element of has the form with . Equivalently, , or is a quotient module of .
Put , and . The quotient ring is an integral domain, so is a prime ideal and hence a primary ideal. Put . Then
The polynomial ring is a Noetherian ring by the Hilbert basis theorem, and is a maximal ideal since . Therefore the maximal-primary ideal criterion from c makes -primary. In particular its radical of an ideal is , distinct from .
Neither primary ideal can be omitted: , while . Thus the given intersection is already a minimal primary decomposition. To express the ideal by generators, write an element of as . Reducing modulo the prime ideal gives in the integral domain , so . Cancelling in the integral domain gives . Hence
By the first uniqueness theorem for primary decomposition, the associated primes of a module are exactly the two radicals of ideals. Their strict inclusion gives
One can also see both associated primes of a module directly through annihilators:
For the first colon ideal, reducing modulo forces , and the reverse inclusion follows from . For the second colon ideal, cancel in . Both represented elements of the quotient module are nonzero.
Set , a quotient module. The exactness of localization gives, for every maximal ideal ,
If , the hypothesis makes this quotient module zero. If , choose . Its image in is a unit, so and the displayed quotient module is again zero. Thus
For completeness, if , its annihilator is a proper ideal, and hence lies in a maximal ideal . The vanishing criterion in a module localization shows in : any element annihilating lies inside . This contradicts the vanishing just proved. Hence , and
The use of localization detects zero elements is valid for every module; neither finite generation nor a Noetherian hypothesis is needed.
Interpretation of the removed locus. Over , the notation specifies a section , with image . We remove this entire closed subscheme. This is the interpretation forced by the asserted open cover . Removing one closed point in a particular fiber would not give that open cover. The native PDF uses the same notation as the transcription.
Put , on . On put , . On their intersection and , giving coordinate rings
The Čech cochain complex for the structure sheaf, using increasing distinct indices, is
Thus is the intersection of the two subrings of , while is the quotient module of by their additive sum.
The Laurent polynomial ring is a free abelian group on the monomials with , . The first subring has the basis . The second has the basis
so its allowed exponents satisfy . A monomial belongs to both precisely when . The monomials belonging to neither satisfy and . Since the subgroups are spanned by subsets of the same basis, their sum introduces no other relations. Therefore
Here the square brackets denote cohomology classes, and the direct sums are as abelian groups. In particular, is a nonzero cohomology class. This scheme is a separated scheme, being an open subscheme of projective space over , and is a quasi-compact scheme by (d). Both charts and their intersection are affine schemes, so this Čech cohomology equals sheaf cohomology. The nonzero first sheaf cohomology of the quasi-coherent structure sheaf rules out an affine scheme:
Use the corrected Lie algebra representation , , from part (i). A vector subspace is invariant under exactly when it is invariant under the printed , since changing the sign of a linear map does not change its invariant subspaces. Define
This is a nonzero proper submodule: preserves each , increases the index, , and for .
We must rule out submodules consisting only of mixtures of weight vectors. Let be any submodule, and choose with finite and every . The eigenvalues of are distinct. For , the Lagrange interpolation polynomial
satisfies . Since is invariant under , it is invariant under every polynomial in , so .
If , repeated applications of give , and . If , repeated applications of give a nonzero multiple of , because the successive coefficients are nonzero in characteristic zero. Repeated applications of to then give every with , so .
Finally, if such a contains any vector outside , that vector has a nonzero coefficient of ; the same polynomial interpolation extracts , forcing . Hence the complete list of submodules is . In particular, is a simple module. The quotient module has basis ; and . It is the one-dimensional trivial Lie algebra representation.
The module extension does not split. If for a submodule , then would be a one-dimensional trivial Lie algebra representation, since it maps isomorphically to . But and , so no such exists. Thus
Here semisimple module means a direct sum of modules that are simple modules, equivalently a module in which every submodule has a complementary submodule. This is the nonsplit zero-weight Verma extension for sl2: rescaling to gives and . Its infinite-dimensional vector space is outside the hypotheses of the Weyl complete reducibility theorem.
For , the Weyl algebra is generated by with and the other generator commutators zero. Iterating the differential Ore extension construction gives the ordered basis . In the Bernstein filtration, both kinds of generator have degree one, and
Leading symbols show that is a noncommutative domain. The Hilbert basis theorem and homogeneous-generator lifting by decreasing degree make it both left and right Noetherian.
It is also a simple ring. In a nonzero two-sided ideal, choose a nonzero element and a monomial of maximal total degree with nonzero coefficient . Applying eliminates every lower-degree term and every different term of that maximal degree. The result is the nonzero scalar . Thus the ideal contains . Here the scalar extraction by iterated Weyl commutators uses characteristic zero. Despite simplicity, has no nonzero finite-dimensional modules: in such a representation would have trace , impossible over . Its interesting module theory is necessarily infinite-dimensional.
For a finitely generated left module , choose a finite-dimensional generating subspace and set . This is a good filtration of a module. Its associated graded module is finite over the graded polynomial ring, so its cumulative Hilbert function is eventually a polynomial,
with positive integer multiplicity . These are the Bernstein growth dimension of a Weyl algebra module and its multiplicity of a filtered module. Two good filtrations bound each other after fixed shifts: lift finite homogeneous generators in one filtration, bound their degrees in the other, and use compatibility with ; then reverse the roles. The growth degree and leading coefficient therefore do not depend on the good filtration of a module. The degree is also the Gelfand–Kirillov dimension of a module and the dimension of the characteristic variety of a Weyl algebra module, the support of . Since is a quotient of a finite sum of copies of , .
The essential lower bound is the Bernstein inequality for Weyl algebra modules:
Here is a full proof. Multiplication gives a linear map . Prove it injective by induction on . At a scalar killing must vanish. If kills , then for every generator , its commutator kills : both and are zero for . Induction gives for all generators. In the ordered basis, differentiates the exponents and differentiates the exponents with a minus sign. Vanishing of all these commutators in characteristic zero forces to be a scalar. It then vanishes because it kills . This proves the faithful finite-step action of a Weyl algebra and hence
Comparison of degrees gives , proving the inequality. Equally, without invoking eventual polynomiality, this estimate directly bounds the Gelfand–Kirillov dimension of a module below by . Right modules satisfy the same inequality through the filtration-preserving isomorphism , , .
A nonzero finitely generated module with is a holonomic Weyl algebra module; the zero module is conventionally included. This minimal-growth class is stable under submodules, quotient modules and extensions. For , take the induced and quotient filtrations. Their graded sequence is exact; Noetherianity of makes the induced filtrations good. Thus the Hilbert functions add and
if both nonzero terms have the top dimension, their multiplicities add. For a holonomic Weyl algebra module, every nonzero subquotient has dimension , by the upper bound inherited from and Bernstein's lower bound. Each nonzero factor in a strict chain therefore consumes positive integral multiplicity. This proves the multiplicity bounds the length of a holonomic Weyl module:
In particular a holonomic module is both Noetherian and Artinian and has finite length, although its vector-space dimension is infinite. This distinction separates finite-dimensional representation theory from finite-length Weyl module theory.
The polynomial module , with acting by multiplication and by differentiation, is generated by . Its consists of polynomials of degree at most , with dimension , so and . It is simple: differentiating a maximal-degree monomial of a nonzero polynomial isolates a nonzero constant, and multiplication by polynomials then generates the whole module. A second basic example is the delta module
Using the reverse ordered basis , its vector space is ; acts by multiplication and by negative differentiation. The same argument proves simplicity and holonomicity. These two examples are exchanged by the automorphism , . Free modules, in contrast, have growth dimension and are not holonomic. Thus the central organizing invariants are good filtration of a module, growth dimension, characteristic support and multiplicity, with Bernstein's estimate explaining why dimension is the natural smallest nonzero size.
Suppose first that is a Noetherian module. An ascending chain of submodules of is also a chain in , so it stabilizes. A chain in the quotient module lifts to a chain in , so it also stabilizes. Thus both and are Noetherian modules.
Conversely, let be a chain of submodules of . If and are Noetherian modules, both and stabilize, say for . For , equality of the images gives with . Then , and hence . This proves the extension direction of Noetherian modules in a short exact sequence.
The left regular module is Noetherian because is a left Noetherian ring. Applying the extension result inductively makes each finite direct sum Noetherian. Every finitely generated module on the left is a quotient module of such a direct sum, so it is Noetherian.
A poly-(cyclic or finite) group has a finite subnormal series
whose factors are cyclic groups or finite groups. We prove that the group ring is a left Noetherian ring by induction. Put . A finite factor makes a finite free left -module, using a coset transversal. Its left ideals are -submodules, so finite-module extension preserves Noetherianity handles this case.
If the factor is infinite cyclic, choose a lift of a generator and let . The group ring is the skew Laurent polynomial ring . Here is the required left-sided skew Hilbert basis theorem. For a left ideal , define
Each is a left ideal of . Left multiplication by gives . The ascending chain condition makes these ideals constant for ; choose finitely many generators for each , , and lift them to polynomials .
If has degree and leading coefficient , write
Subtracting cancels the leading coefficient. For , use the lifts for instead. Induction on polynomial degree shows that the finitely many generate . Thus the skew polynomial ring of an automorphism is a left Noetherian ring.
Finally, for a left ideal of , its intersection with has finitely many generators. Every satisfies for some , so those same generators generate after multiplication by . This completes the induction and proves that is left Noetherian, the left-sided form of group rings of poly-(cyclic or finite) groups are Noetherian.
The Jacobson radical is , where runs over the maximal right ideals. Every proper right ideal lies in such an : the union of a chain of proper right ideals containing is a right ideal and remains proper because it omits . Thus Zorn lemma applies.
The right-module form of Nakayama lemma says that a finitely generated module with is zero. More generally, if is a submodule and , then . To prove the first statement, suppose and take a generating set of minimal size. Since , there are with
The unit criterion for the Jacobson radical makes a unit. Hence is generated by the other , a contradiction. Apply this result to the quotient module to obtain the general form.
For an injective module endomorphism of an Artinian module , the descending chain condition gives
for some . Given , write ; injectivity of gives . Thus is surjective, as asserted by Artinian modules are co-Hopfian.
Now is a semilocal ring and is a finitely generated module over the right Artinian ring . A finite direct sum of copies of , and hence its quotient module , is an Artinian module. The module endomorphism induces on , and the given inverse-image condition says precisely that . The preceding argument makes surjective, so
The quotient module is finitely generated and satisfies . Applying Nakayama lemma yields . Therefore is surjective, by surjectivity from injectivity modulo the Jacobson radical.
An R-module is a free module if it has a basis : every has a unique expression as a finite sum , with . Equivalently, it is a direct sum of copies of . Let be the quotient map. When is free, choose a basis and lifts . The universal property of a free module defines an -linear map by . It satisfies , so every decomposes uniquely as
This gives a split short exact sequence and . If is also free, the union of its basis and the lifted quotient basis is a basis of : spanning follows from the decomposition, and applying to a putative relation kills all quotient coefficients before independence in kills the remaining ones. Thus free submodule and free quotient imply a free module.
For the first claim, take and
Here are free modules and . But is a torsion-free module, whereas contains the nonzero torsion element . Therefore claim (1) is false.
For the second claim, the same lifting construction works without assuming that is free. Since both isomorphic quotient modules are free, it yields
Thus claim (2) is true. Equivalently, this uses the fact that free modules are projective.
Set , a multiplicative subset because is a prime ideal. The quotient module is a cyclic module generated by , so its localization of a module is zero precisely when . By the vanishing criterion in a module localization, this is equivalent to the existence of with in . The latter condition says . Therefore
Explicitly, if , multiplication by annihilates but becomes invertible after localization, forcing every localized element to be zero.
Choose whose classes form a basis of the cotangent space of a local ring , and put . Spanning gives . Thus the quotient module satisfies . It is a finitely generated module, since is a Noetherian ring.
Here is the needed form of the Nakayama lemma, with proof. Choose generators of and write with . For the column vector , . Multiply by the adjugate to obtain . Since , this determinant is a unit in the local ring , so every . Therefore , proving . Conversely, any generators of must span its cotangent space, so at least are needed. Hence
Here denotes the minimal number of generators of a module .
For the additional minimum, the maximal ideal is itself -primary, so it supplies an eligible ideal generated by elements. Consequently
The minimum here is over primary ideals. A bound for every -primary ideal would be false. Indeed, for and , but is primary and needs three generators. To verify primaryness, if and , then cannot be a unit, so and . The three displayed monomials form a basis of , proving the lower bound of three, while they already generate . This illustrates that primary ideals can need more generators than the maximal ideal.
An Artinian module is an -module satisfying the descending chain condition on submodules: every chain is eventually constant. An Artinian ring is a ring that is Artinian as a module over itself, so its descending chains of ideals stabilize.
We first prove the closure properties needed for finite generation. A submodule of an Artinian module is Artinian, because any descending chain in it is also a chain in the original module. A quotient module is Artinian, because inverse images turn a descending chain in the quotient into one upstairs. Conversely, consider a short exact sequence
with and Artinian. For a descending chain , the chains and both stabilize. Choose beyond both stabilization indices. If and , equality of the images gives with . Then
so . Hence . This proves the extension property of Artinian modules in a short exact sequence.
Apply this property inductively to . Every finite direct sum is Artinian when is an Artinian ring. If generate , the map is a surjection . The quotient property therefore proves
This argument also covers the zero module; it does not require a structure theorem for Artinian rings.
For a counterexample without finite generation, take any field and the module
The ring is Artinian, since its only ideals are and . But for every , since . Thus an infinite-dimensional vector space over a field provides the requested non-Artinian module.
Finally, let be an injective endomorphism with Artinian. Its image chain stabilizes, so for some . Given , choose with . Since is injective, . Therefore
This is precisely the assertion that Artinian modules are co-Hopfian.
Factor . These factors generate pairwise comaximal ideals, so the Chinese remainder theorem gives
The three copies of have different module structures: acts by , respectively. Thus acts on as , making a module homomorphism.
The inverse, obtained by Lagrange interpolation, is
Evaluating at recovers . Conversely, a polynomial whose three evaluations vanish is divisible by , so these maps are mutual inverses on the quotient module. Three copies with identical trivial -action would not give the required isomorphism.
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.