Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 111 1 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Use the positive-root criterion for Coxeter length: for a simple root ,The hypothesis therefore says that every simple generator is a right ascent of . If , a reduced expression in a Coxeter group for has a final simple generator , and deleting it givesa contradiction. Hence .
If stabilizes setwise, then , so the result just proved gives . Thus the stabilizer of every fundamental system is trivial.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 111 3 d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
There is a missing hypothesis in the printed claim: it is false when every irreducible component of has type . The intended statement holds as soon as has an irreducible component of rank at least two, which we now assume.
Since , every Hecke parameter of a BN-pair vanishes in , and is the 0-Hecke algebra withLet be the Longest element of a finite Coxeter group. Choose a simple generator in a component of rank at least two, putThe element is again a simple generator. The identities and giveIf is simple, then is a left descent of both and : using , one gets . HenceThe one-dimensional subspace is therefore a left ideal. It is nonzero because and are distinct basis elements.
Every reduced expression in a Coxeter group for contains : in an irreducible finite component of rank at least two, deleting one final generator from does not remove any vertex from its support. A reduced expression for contains as well. Since , associativity now givesIf were a semisimple algebra, the left ideal would be a direct summand of the regular module. The corresponding projection would produce a nonzero idempotent in , impossible because . Thus is not semisimple.
For completeness, if , thenwhich is semisimple. This is the counterexample showing why the omitted rank condition is necessary.