The Hilbert basis theorem says that if is a commutative Noetherian ring, then is Noetherian; iteration treats any finite number of variables. Here is a complete leading-coefficient proof. For an ideal , let be the set of degree- coefficients of its polynomials of degree at most , including zero coefficients. These are ideals of , and multiplication by gives . The ascending chain condition makes the chain stationary from some onward. Choose finite generators for and lift them to polynomials of degree at most . If has degree , set and express its leading coefficient as , where is the chosen degree- coefficient. Then has smaller degree. Induction proves that the finitely many lifts generate . This proves the theorem, including coefficient rings with zero divisors.
Put and . The infinite dihedral group has normal forms and . The relations move every to the right and reduce its exponent modulo two; the action , on shows that these forms are distinct. Thus
The Hilbert basis theorem makes Noetherian, and its localization is Noetherian: an ideal of a localization is generated by the images of the finite generators of its contraction. Since is free of rank two over on the left, it is a Noetherian module over . Every left ideal of is an -submodule, so all its ascending chains stabilize. Therefore is left Noetherian.
For the center of the infinite dihedral group algebra, write an element as . Commuting it with gives in the Laurent integral domain, forcing . Commuting with then gives . A symmetric Laurent polynomial is a linear combination of and , . With , the recursion
expresses as a polynomial in . Conversely every polynomial in is central. The highest Laurent exponent of a nonzero polynomial in shows that is transcendental. Hence
The identities and give . Independence follows by applying to a relation and subtracting: , so . Consequently
is a free -module of rank four.
Let be a nonzero simple module on the left. For any , , so it is finite over . Every central acts bijectively: its kernel and image are -submodules, and simplicity forces kernel zero and image . To prove that is maximal, not merely prime, put ; then is a faithful finite -module. For , . If generate , write . The adjugate matrix identity for shows that annihilates every generator and hence . Faithfulness makes this determinant zero in . Its constant term is one, so it has form , proving . Thus is a field, and is a maximal ideal of . This proves the general principle for simple modules over an algebra finite over its center in this instance.
Every maximal ideal of is for some , by factorization of complex polynomials. The module is therefore a quotient of the four-dimensional algebra . In particular , as required.
The actual simple dimensions are at most two. If , choose with . The matrices and give a representation of onto : polynomial functions of give the two diagonal matrix units, and multiplication by gives the off-diagonal ones. Both algebras have dimension four, so this is an isomorphism. If , the element has square zero and is conjugated to its negative by ; its generated two-sided ideal is square zero. It annihilates every simple module, since its action on a simple module is either zero or the whole module, and the latter contradicts its square being zero. The remaining quotient is , whose two simple modules have . Thus the generic simple modules have dimension two, and the four exceptional one-dimensional characters have , .