Cubic-root quantum-plane socle 2026-10-14
At a primitive cube root of unity, the cubic homogeneous module has basis . Its only simple modules occurring as submodules are the one-dimensional subspaces of , on which and . Its quotient by this two-dimensional submodule is simple, but it has no simple complement: any lift of the highest weight space contains , whose image is . Thus the cubic module is not a semisimple module.
Finite-dimensional simple algebra is semisimple Created 2026-10-25 Updated 2026-10-31
For a nonzero associative algebra of finite dimension that is a simple ring, choose a minimal left ideal . Right multiplication is a module homomorphism, so is zero or a simple module. The sum is a nonzero two-sided ideal, hence . Finite dimension reduces this to a finite sum. The finite sum of simple submodules lemma shows that the left regular module is a semisimple module.
Finite sum of simple submodules Created 2026-10-25 Updated 2026-10-31
A finite sum of simple modules inside one module is a semisimple module. Inductively, if is the sum already retained, then is a submodule of the simple module , hence zero or . In the first case append as a direct summand; in the second it adds nothing. This gives a direct sum of modules selected from the original family.
Isotypic decomposition Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-11-05
A finite-length semisimple module has a canonical decompositionin which is the sum of all simple submodules isomorphic to a fixed simple module . Each is isomorphic to a finite direct sum .
The decomposition is intrinsic to the semisimple module: the isomorphism types of its simple submodules determine the summands.
Left regular module 2026-10-25
The left regular module of a unital associative algebra is its underlying additive group with acting by left multiplication. Its submodules are exactly the left ideals of . The associative algebra is a semisimple algebra precisely when this module is a semisimple module.
For a finite-dimensional module, it suffices that every maximal proper submodule have a submodule complement in order that every submodule have one. Let be the sum of all simple modules contained in the given module. If is proper, choose a maximal submodule containing it. A complement is isomorphic to the simple quotient and hence is itself simple. This forces , contradicting the complement. Thus . Greedily adding simple summands not already in the sum gives a direct sum in finitely many steps. Finally, given any , choose a maximal sum of these simple summands disjoint from . A missing simple summand has zero intersection with their sum plus , contradicting maximality unless their sum complements . This proves the semisimple module criterion, including the zero module.
A simple module is nonzero and has no submodules other than zero and itself. A semisimple module is a direct sum of simple submodules; the zero module is allowed as the empty sum.
For (1)(2), argue by dimension. Choose a minimal nonzero submodule , which is simple, and split using (1). The property passes to : for , write ; then . Apply induction to and append . The zero-dimensional case starts the induction. The implication (2)(3) is immediate. For (3)(2), repeatedly append a simple submodule not contained in the sum already chosen. Its intersection with that sum is zero by simplicity. Dimension strictly increases, so after finitely many steps their direct sum is .
For (2)(1), write and fix . Choose a sum of a maximal subset of these whose sum is disjoint from . If , some is not contained in , so simplicity gives . Then is a larger direct sum still disjoint from , a contradiction. Hence .
Condition (1) implies (1*). Conversely suppose (1*) and let be the sum of all simple submodules. If , finite dimension supplies a maximal proper submodule containing . By (1*), . Projection to the simple quotient identifies the nonzero complement with a simple module. Thus , contradicting the direct sum. Consequently , which is (3). This proves all four conditions are equivalent.
For the concrete complement, . Orthogonal idempotents and give : the sum follows from , and right multiplication by shows their intersection is zero. In explicit matrix form,The decomposition of uses second-column remainders in .
A semisimple module is a direct sum of simple modules. An algebra is semisimple when all its modules are semisimple. Suppose the left regular module is semisimple. Every module is a quotient of a free module , by sending its basis elements to a generating set of . This free module is a direct sum of simple modules.
A quotient of a direct sum of simple modules is semisimple: the images of its simple summands are simple or zero and span the quotient. Choose a maximal direct sum among these simple images, allowing all simple submodules in the choice. If it does not span the whole quotient, some simple image is not contained in it. Its intersection with that direct sum is zero by simplicity, so it could be added, contradicting maximality. For infinite index sets, Zorn's lemma supplies the maximal direct sum; in finite dimension the construction terminates directly.
Hence every is semisimple, and is a semisimple algebra. This proves semisimplicity from the regular module.
A semisimple module is a direct sum of simple modules. A finite-dimensional semisimple algebra is one whose left regular module is semisimple; equivalently, all its finite-dimensional modules are semisimple, or every submodule of a finite-dimensional module has a complementary submodule.
The Maschke theorem states that, for a finite group and a field with in , every finite-dimensional -module is semisimple, so is a semisimple algebra. The assumption is equivalent to saying that the characteristic of a field does not divide . The averaging construction makes a projection onto a submodule equivariant by replacing with .
Construct the sum successively, retaining a simple module only when it adds a new direct summand. Suppose is already expressed as a direct sum of modules selected from these simple modules. The intersection is a submodule of the simple module , so it is either zero or all of . In the latter case . In the former caseStarting with and proceeding by mathematical induction gives a direct sum of modules equal to . Thus the sum is a semisimple module. The argument proves the useful finite sum of simple submodules lemma without claiming that the originally listed submodules are themselves independent.
An -module is completely reducible if it is a direct sum of modules each of which is a simple module:Here a simple module is nonzero and has no submodules other than zero and itself. This is precisely the definition of a semisimple module. The indexing set need not be finite unless has finite dimension; the zero module is included as the empty direct sum of modules.
Since is a nonzero associative algebra of finite dimension, it has a nonzero left ideal of least positive dimension. Such a minimal left ideal is a simple module under left multiplication.
For , right multiplication defines the module homomorphismIts kernel is a submodule of , so its image is either zero or a simple module isomorphic to . Each is a left ideal, since .
ConsiderIt is a left ideal. It is also stable under right multiplication, because , so it is a two-sided ideal. Moreover , giving . The assumption that is a simple ring therefore forces .
Only finitely many summands are needed: express each member of a finite basis of as a finite sum of elements of the , and collect the finitely many indices used. After discarding zero summands, is a finite sum of simple modules. Part (a)(ii) makes its left regular module a semisimple module. This is exactly the definition of a semisimple algebra, proving that a finite-dimensional simple algebra is semisimple. The finite dimension assumption is essential to this assertion about a simple ring.
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. DefineThis 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 polynomialsatisfies . 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. ThusHere 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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 2 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An essential right ideal intersects every nonzero right ideal nontrivially. A regular element of a ring is a two-sided non-zero-divisor: both and imply . Writing for the set of these elements, the classical right ring of quotients is a ring containing , with every invertible and every element of expressible as .
Goldie theorem states that a semiprime ring has a semisimple Artinian classical right ring of quotients if and only if it is a right Goldie ring: it satisfies the ascending chain condition on right annihilators and has finite uniform dimension. In particular, every semiprime ring that is a right Noetherian ring satisfies the theorem. We prove the requested case directly using the supplied assumption about essential right ideals.
First let . If a nonzero right ideal had , the sumwould be direct. Indeed, a finite relation gives , hence ; cancellation of repeats the argument. Each is a nonzero right ideal, so the partial sums form a strictly ascending chain. This contradicts right Noetherianity. Thus a regular principal right ideal in a right Noetherian ring is essential, and every right ideal containing is essential.
For and , putThis is an essential right ideal. To check this, take a nonzero right ideal . If , then . Otherwise is a nonzero right ideal, so it meets nontrivially; lifting an element of that intersection gives a nonzero element of . By the supplied assumption, contains some , givingThis is the right Ore condition. The set is multiplicatively closed, and the denominator cancellation condition holds because its elements are non-zero-divisors. Therefore Ore theorem constructs and embeds in it.
For every right ideal of ,Indeed, if , then . Contracting an ascending chain of right ideals of to therefore proves that is a right Noetherian ring.
Suppose is an essential right ideal of . For a nonzero right ideal of , choose . The right Ore condition gives a common right denominator for a finite expression of in , so there is withThus is an essential right ideal of . It contains a regular element of a ring, which becomes a unit in , and consequently .
Finally, for any right ideal of , choose by Zorn lemma a right ideal maximal subject to . Then is essential: a nonzero right ideal disjoint from would enlarge while keeping it disjoint from . Hence . Every submodule of the right regular module has a complement, making it a semisimple module. Since it is also Noetherian, it is a finite direct sum of simple modules. It is therefore Artinian, and is a semisimple Artinian ring. This is semisimplicity of a classical quotient from regular elements in essential ideals.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 4 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
We use complex representations. By Maschke's theorem, restriction to any finite subgroup is a semisimple module, so it has a canonical isotypic decomposition. In particular, the -isotypic component is the sum of all copies of the irreducible -module with character . The central character idempotentprojects onto this component. These projections preserve every -submodule, which consequently decomposes as the direct sum of its intersections with the isotypic components.
Let afford . The component is nonzero. Since fixes , it preserves . Irreducibility of as a -module therefore gives : its restriction to consists entirely of copies of .
Form the induced representationwhere represents the left cosets . Because , for we haveThus is -isotypic of type , where . These types are distinct for distinct cosets , precisely by the definition of the inertia group of a character .
Let be a nonzero -submodule of . Its isotypic decomposition as an -module shows that it meets some nontrivially. Acting by gives . This intersection is a -submodule of the irreducible , hence equals . The -translates of that component span , so . The induced representation is therefore irreducible, and its restriction contains . Its induced character satisfiesThis proves the irreducibility assertion directly from isotypic components; no form of the correspondence being proved has been assumed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 3 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
On , define the permutation and diagonal actions byThe inverse in the first formula gives a left action. Applying to every tensor factor and then reordering produces the same tensor as reordering and then applying . Thus the two actions commute. The Schur algebra isIt is the commutant of an operator algebra of the permutation action.
To identify this commutant, use the multilinear isomorphismConjugation by a permutation reorders the factors on the right. Therefore the invariant subspace is the space of symmetric tensors of degree in . It is spanned by . Indeed, the polarization identityexpresses every symmetrized elementary tensor as a linear combination of pure powers. Those symmetrized elementary tensors span the invariant subspace in characteristic zero.
One may restrict to invertible endomorphisms without changing the span. For fixed , the vector-valued polynomial has degree at most . Choose distinct values of away from the finitely many roots of . Polynomial interpolation expresses its constant term as a linear combination of those invertible tensor powers. ConsequentlyThe span is an algebra, since products are .
The image of is semisimple, as a quotient of a semisimple algebra. The double-centralizer theorem for semisimple operator algebras gives . Since the preceding computation says that is the span of the general linear action, the two actions are mutual commutants. More explicitly, semisimple module decomposition givesHere is the multiplicity space, with its natural general linear action. The commutant algebra is the product of the full endomorphism algebras of these multiplicity spaces. Hence each nonzero is irreducible, and distinct spaces have nonisomorphic general linear representations, because the operators span that commutant. A primitive picks a one-dimensional factor from , so is an equivalent realization of as a Schur module.
The range of shapes is exact. If has more than rows, a column antisymmetrizes more than vectors and its action vanishes by . Conversely, for at most rows place the th basis vector in every tensor position belonging to row of . Row symmetrization multiplies this tensor by . Column antisymmetrization is nonzero, because all vectors within each column are distinct, and its different permutations give distinct basis tensors. Thus . This proves the length bound for a Schur module and the stated Schur–Weyl duality. For , the empty partition and give the trivial version.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 5 1 Solution 2026-10-07
We take algebras to be unital and modules to be unital. A finite-dimensional semisimple algebra over the complex numbers is one whose regular left module is a semisimple module, that is, a direct sum of simple modules. We use the basic finite-dimensional equivalences: this is equivalent to a zero Jacobson radical, and the Jacobson radical of any finite-dimensional algebra is a nilpotent ideal.
The Artin–Wedderburn theorem here says that there are positive integers withThe nonisomorphic simple modules are the standard column modules of the factors, of dimensions , and the factor sizes are unique up to reordering.
Here is a proof. Decompose the regular left module as with pairwise nonisomorphic simple modules . These are all the simple modules: any simple module is generated by a nonzero vector and is therefore a quotient of the regular module. The Schur lemma gives for and . For the latter assertion, an endomorphism has an eigenvalue over , and the kernel of its difference from that scalar is a nonzero submodule, hence the whole simple module. ConsequentlyEvery regular-module endomorphism is right multiplication by its value at , so . Taking opposite algebras and using matrix transposition gives the asserted decomposition with .
For a matrix algebra , the matrix units show that its only simple module is : the spaces are isomorphic through , and a nonzero vector in one of them generates one copy of the column module. Simplicity makes that copy all of . In a product algebra, the mutually orthogonal central idempotents decompose every module into its factor modules; a simple module uses exactly one factor. This proves the module assertion and also uniqueness, since the primitive central idempotents and the dimensions of their simple modules determine the factors.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 3 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
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 iswhere 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 isFor , 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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 103 1 c ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The identity from part (a) shows that each Young–Jucys–Murphy element belongs to the Gelfand–Tsetlin algebra. Conversely, lies in the centralizer of in . Applying the preceding Olshanskii centralizer lemma at level givesInduction, beginning with , proves . ThusHere every generated algebra is unital; causes no problem.
To deduce simple branching, use Maschke's theorem: complex representations of finite groups are semisimple modules. The Artin–Wedderburn theorem identifieswhere runs over the irreducible -modules. Write their restrictions asBy Schur lemma, the centralizer in the displayed algebra iswith zero multiplicities omitted. Part (i) makes this algebra commutative, whereas a full matrix algebra of size at least two is noncommutative. Consequently every restriction multiplicity is or . This proves multiplicity-free restriction at each step, with no use of the branching rule in the centralizer proof.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 128 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
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. HenceDefine orthogonal idempotents and . They sum to one, so the right regular module decomposes asThe 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 isIts 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.