## Posts Tagged ‘Wedderburn’s little theorem’

Throughout this post, $U(R)$ and $J(R)$ are the group of units and the Jacobson radical of a ring $R.$ Assuming that $U(R)$ is finite and $|U(R)|$ is odd, we will show that $|U(R)|=\prod_{i=1}^k (2^{n_i}-1)$ for some positive integers $k, n_1, \ldots , n_k.$ Let’s start with a nice little problem.

Problem 1. Prove that if $U(R)$ is finite, then $J(R)$ is finite too and $|U(R)|=|J(R)||U(R/J(R)|.$

Solution. Let $J:=J(R)$ and define the map $f: U(R) \to U(R/J))$ by $f(x) = x + J, \ x \in U(R).$ This map is clearly a well-defined group homomorphism. To prove that $f$ is surjective, suppose that $x + J \in U(R/J).$ Then $1-xy \in J,$ for some $y \in R,$ and hence $xy = 1-(1-xy) \in U(R)$ implying that $x \in U(R).$ So $f$ is surjective and thus $U(R)/\ker f \cong U(R/J).$ Now, $\ker f = \{1-x : \ \ x \in J \}$ is a subgroup of $U(R)$ and $|\ker f|=|J|.$ Thus $J$ is finite and $|U(R)|=|\ker f||U(R/J)|=|J||U(R/J)|. \Box$

Problem 2. Let $p$ be a prime number and suppose that $U(R)$ is finite and $pR=(0).$ Prove that if $p \nmid |U(R)|,$ then $J(R)=(0).$

Solution. Suppose that $J(R) \neq (0)$ and $0 \neq x \in J(R).$ Then, considering $J(R)$ as an additive group, $H:=\{ix: \ 0 \leq i \leq p-1 \}$ is a subgroup of $J(R)$ and so $p=|H| \mid |J(R)|.$ But then $p \mid |U(R)|,$ by Problem 1, and that’s a contradiction! $\Box$

There is also a direct, and maybe easier, way to solve Problem 2: suppose that there exists $0 \neq x \in J(R).$ On $U(R),$ define the relation $\sim$ as follows: $y \sim z$ if and only if $y-z = nx$ for some integer $n.$ Then $\sim$ is an equivalence relation and the equivalence class of $y \in U(R)$ is $[y]=\{y+ix: \ 0 \leq i \leq p-1 \}.$ Note that $[y] \subseteq U(R)$ because $x \in J(R)$ and $y \in U(R).$ So if $k$ is the number of equivalence classes, then $|U(R)|=k|[y]|=kp,$ contradiction!

Problem 3. Prove that if $F$ is a finite field, then $|U(M_n(F))|=\prod_{i=1}^n(|F|^n - |F|^{i-1}).$ In particular, if $|U(M_n(F))|$ is odd,  then $n=1$ and $|F|$ is a power of $2.$

Solution. The group $U(M_n(F))= \text{GL}(n,F)$ is isomorphic to the group of invertible linear maps $F^n \to F^n.$ Also, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the set of invertible linear maps $F^n \to F^n$ and the set of (ordered) bases of $F^n.$ So $|U(M_n(F))|$ is equal to the number of bases of $F^n.$ Now, to construct a basis for $F^n,$ we choose any non-zero element $v_1 \in F^n.$ There are $|F|^n-1$ different ways to choose $v_1.$ Now, to choose $v_2,$ we need to make sure that $v_1,v_2$ are not linearly dependent, i.e. $v_2 \notin Fv_1 \cong F.$ So there are $|F|^n-|F|$ possible ways to choose $v_2.$ Again, we need to choose $v_3$ somehow that $v_1,v_2,v_3$ are not linearly dependent, i.e. $v_3 \notin Fv_1+Fv_2 \cong F^2.$ So there are $|F|^n-|F|^2$ possible ways to choose $v_3.$ If we continue this process, we will get the formula given in the problem. $\Box$

Problem 4. Suppose that $U(R)$ is finite and $|U(R)|$ is odd. Prove that $|U(R)|=\prod_{i=1}^k (2^{n_i}-1)$ for some positive integers $k, n_1, \ldots , n_k.$

Solution. If $1 \neq -1$ in $R,$ then $\{1,-1\}$ would be a subgroup of order 2 in $U(R)$ and this is not possible because $|U(R)|$ is odd. So $1=-1.$ Hence $2R=(0)$ and $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z} \cong \{0,1\} \subseteq R.$ Let $S$ be the ring generated by $\{0,1\}$ and $U(R).$ Obviously $S$ is finite, $2S=(0)$ and $U(S)=U(R).$ We also have $J(S)=(0),$ by Problem 2. So $S$ is a finite semisimple ring and hence $S \cong \prod_{i=1}^k M_{m_i}(F_i)$ for some positive integers $k, m_1, \ldots , m_k$ and some finite fields $F_1, \ldots , F_k,$ by the Artin-Wedderburn theorem and Wedderburn’s little theorem. Therefore $|U(R)|=|U(S)|=\prod_{i=1}^k |U(M_{m_i}(F_i))|.$ The result now follows from the second part of Problem 3. $\Box$

For notations and the results we have already proved, see part (1).

Lemma 3.  Let $q \geq 1, \ n \geq 2$ be integers. Then $|\Phi_n(q)| > q-1.$

Proof. By definition of $\Phi_n,$ it suffices to prove that $|q - \alpha| > q- 1$ for any $n$-th root of unity $\alpha \neq 1.$ So if $\alpha = \cos \theta + i \sin \theta,$ then $\cos \theta < 1$ and thus

$|q - \alpha|^2=q^2-(2\cos \theta)q + 1 > (q-1)^2 \geq q-1. \ \Box$

Wedderburn’s Little Theorem. (J. M. Wedderburn, 1905) Every finite division ring is a field.

Proof. Let $D$ be a finite division ring with the center $Z.$ Then $Z$ is a (finite) field and $D$ is a finite dimensional vector space over $Z.$ So if $|Z|=q$ and $\dim_Z D=n,$ then $|D|=q^n.$ If $n = 1,$ then $D=Z$ and we are done. So we will assume that $n \geq 2$ and we will get a contradiction. Let $D^{\times}=D \setminus \{0\},$ as usual, be the multiplicative group of $D.$ Clearly $Z^{\times}=Z \setminus \{0\}$ is the center of $D^{\times}.$ Also, for any $a \in D,$ let $C(a)$ be the centralizer of $a$ in $D.$ Then $C(a)$ is also a finite division ring and thus a finite dimensional vector space over $Z.$ Let $\dim_Z C(a)=n_a.$ Then $|C(a)|=q^{n_a}.$ It is clear that the centralizer of $a$ in $D^{\times}$ is $C(a)^{\times}=C(a) \setminus \{0\}.$ So the class equation of $D^{\times}$ gives us

$\displaystyle q^n-1=|D^{\times}|=|Z^{\times}| + \sum_{a}[D^{\times}:C(a)^{\times}]=q-1 + \sum_{a} \frac{q^n-1}{q^{n_a}-1}. \ \ \ \ \ \ (\dagger)$

By Lemma 1 and Lemma 2 in part (1), $|\Phi_n(q)|$ divides both $q^n-1$ and $\sum_a \displaystyle \frac{q^n-1}{q^{n_a}-1}.$ So $|\Phi_n(q)| \mid q-1,$ by $(\dagger ).$ Thus $|\Phi_n(q)| \leq q-1,$ contradicting Lemma 3. $\Box$

## Wedderburn’s little theorem (1)

Posted: September 24, 2011 in Division Rings, Noncommutative Ring Theory Notes
Tags: , ,

In this two-part note I’m going to prove that every finite division ring is a field. This result is called Wedderburn’s little theorem. The proof we are going to give is due to Ernst Witt and that’s probably the best proof available. But before getting into the proof, we need to know a little bit about cyclotomic polynomials.

Notation. For any integer $n \geq 1$ we have the $n$-th root of unity $\zeta_n = e^{2 \pi i/n}.$

Definition. The $n$-th cyclotomic polynomial is defined by $\Phi_n(x) = \prod_{1 \leq k \leq n, \ \gcd(k,n)=1}(x - \zeta_n^k), \ n \geq 1.$

Lemma 1. $x^n - 1 = \prod_{d \mid n} \Phi_d(x).$ In particular, $\Phi_n(x) \mid x^n -1.$

Proof. We have $x^n-1 = \prod_{j=1}^n (x - \zeta_n^j)=\prod_{d \mid n} \prod_{\gcd(j,n)=d}(x-\zeta_n^j).$ But

$\prod_{\gcd(j,n)=d} (x - \zeta_n^j) = \prod_{\gcd(k, n/d)=1}(x - \zeta_n^{kd})$

and obviously $\zeta_n^d = \zeta_{n/d}.$ Hence

$x^n-1 = \prod_{d \mid n} \prod_{\gcd(k,n/d)=1}(x - \zeta_{n/d}^k)=\prod_{d \mid n} \Phi_{n/d}(x)=\prod_{d \mid n} \Phi_d(x). \ \Box$

Corollary. For every $n \geq 1 : \ \Phi_n(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x].$

Proof. By induction over $n.$ There is nothing to prove if $n=1$ because $\Phi_1(x)=x-1.$ Now let $n \geq 2$ and suppose the $\Phi_m(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ for all $m < n.$ Note that cyclotomic polynomials are all monic. Thus, by Lemma 1

$x^n-1 = g(x) \Phi_n(x), \ \ \ \ \ \ \ (*)$

for some monic polynomial $g(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x].$ Since $x^n-1$ is monic too, it follows from $(*)$ that $\Phi_n(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]. \ \Box$

Lemma 2. If $1 \leq d < n$ and $d \mid n,$ then $\displaystyle \Phi_n(x) \mid \frac{x^n - 1}{x^d - 1}.$

Proof. By Lemma 1 we have

$x^n - 1 = \prod_{m \mid n} \Phi_m(x)=\Phi_n(x) \prod_{m

Therefore, again by Lemma 1, $x^n-1 = \Phi_n(x) (x^d -1) f(x),$ where $f(x) =\prod_{m \nmid d, \ m \mid n} \Phi_m(x). \ \Box$

We will continue our discussion in part (2).

## Finite subgroups of the multiplicative group of a division ring

Posted: September 20, 2011 in Division Rings, Noncommutative Ring Theory Notes
Tags: , , ,

It is a well-known fact that a finite subgroup of the multiplicative group of a field is cyclic. We will prove this result shortly.  We will also extend it to any division ring of non-zero characteristic. Note that this result is not necessarily true in a division ring of zero characteristic. For example, in the division ring of real quaternions, the subgroup $\{\pm 1, \pm i, \pm j, \pm k \}$ is not even abelian let alone cyclic. We will also prove that finite abelian subgroups of the multiplicative group of any division ring are cyclic.

Theorem. Every finite subgroup of the multiplicative group of a field is cyclic.

Proof. Let $F$ be a field and let $G$ be a finite subgroup of $F^{\times}.$ Let $|G|=n$ and, for any divisor $d$ of $n,$ let $f(d)$ be the number of elements of $G$ of order $d.$ Obviously

$\sum_{d \mid n} f(d) = n. \ \ \ \ \ \ (1)$

Let $\varphi$ be the Euler’s totient function. Recall from number theory that

$\sum_{d \mid n} \varphi(d)=n. \ \ \ \ \ \ (2)$

Claim. If $d \mid n$ and $f(d) \neq 0,$ then $f(d)=\varphi(d).$

Proof of the claim. Since $f(d) \neq 0,$ there exists $g \in G$ such that $o(g)=d.$ Let $H = \langle g \rangle$ and $p(x)=x^d - 1.$ Then every element of $H$ is a root of $p(x).$ But $p(x)$ has at most $d$ roots in $F.$ Thus $H$ is exactly the set of roots of $p(x).$ Finally, the fact that an element $g^m \in H$ has order $d$ if and only if $\gcd(m,d)=1$ implies $f(d)=\varphi(d). \ \Box$

It now follows from $(1), \ (2)$ and the claim that $f(d)=\varphi(d)$ for all $d \mid n.$ In particular, $f(n)=\varphi(n) \neq 0$ and so $o(g)= n = |G|$ for some $g \in G. \ \Box$

Corollary 1. Every finite abelian subgroup of the multiplicative group of a division ring is cyclic.

Proof. Let $D$ be a division ring with the center $Z.$ Let $G$ be a finite abelian subgroup of $D^{\times}$ and put $F=\sum_{g \in G} Zg.$ It is obvious that $F$ is a commutative domain and $G \subset F.$ Also,  since $G$ is finite, $F$ is a finite dimensional vector space over $Z$ and thus every element of $F$ is algebraic over $Z.$ Let $0 \neq c \in F$ and suppose that $q(x)=x^m + \ldots + a_1x + a_0 \in Z[x]$ is the minimal polynomial of $c$ over $Z.$ Then $a_0 \neq 0$ and so $c(c^{m-1} + \ldots + a_1)(-a_0^{-1})=1.$ Therefore $F$ is a field and we are done by the above theorem. $\Box$

Corollary 2.  Every finite subgroup of the multiplicative group of a division ring of non-zero characteristic is cyclic.

Proof. Let $D$ be a division ring with $\text{char}(D)=p > 0.$ Let $\mathbb{F}_p$ be the prime subfield of $D$ and suppose that $G$ is a finite subgroup of $D^{\times}.$ Let $F = \sum_{g \in G} \mathbb{F}_p g.$ Clearly $F$ is a finite subring of $D$ and $F$ contains $G.$ Let $0 \neq c \in F.$ Since $D$ is a domain, $F$ is a domain too. Thus $\{cx : \ x \in F\}=F$ and so $cx = 1$ for some $x \in F.$ Therefore $F$ is a division ring. But, by Wedderburn’s little theorem, a finite division ring is a field. So $F$ is a field and we are done by the above theorem. $\Box$