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Abstract algebra

In mathematics, more specifically algebra, abstract algebra or modern algebra is the study of algebraic structures. Algebraic structures include groups, rings, fields, modules, vector spaces, lattices, and algebras over a field. The term abstract algebra was coined in the early 20th century to distinguish it from older parts of algebra, and more specifically from elementary algebra, the use of variables to represent numbers in computation and reasoning. Presently, the term "abstract algebra" is typically used for naming courses in mathematical education, and is rarely used in advanced mathematics. Algebraic structures, with their associated homomorphisms, form . is a formalism that allows a unified way for expressing properties and constructions that are similar for various structures. Universal algebra is a related subject that studies types of algebraic structures as single objects. For example, the structure of groups is a single object in universal algebra, which is called the variety of groups. Before the nineteenth century, algebra was defined as the study of polynomials. Abstract algebra came into existence during the nineteenth century as more complex problems and solution methods developed. Concrete problems and examples came from number theory, geometry, analysis, and the solutions of algebraic equations. Most theories that are now recognized as parts of abstract algebra started as collections of disparate facts from various branches of mathematics, acquired a common theme that served as a core around which various results were grouped, and finally became unified on a basis of a common set of concepts. This unification occurred in the early decades of the 20th century and resulted in the formal axiomatic definitions of various algebraic structures such as groups, rings, and fields. This historical development is almost the opposite of the treatment found in popular textbooks, such as van der Waerden's Moderne Algebra, which start each chapter with a formal definition of a structure and then follow it with concrete examples.

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Algebra (part 1)

Un MOOC francophone d'algèbre linéaire accessible à tous, enseigné de manière rigoureuse et ne nécessitant aucun prérequis.

Algebra (part 1)

Un MOOC francophone d'algèbre linéaire accessible à tous, enseigné de manière rigoureuse et ne nécessitant aucun prérequis.

Algebra (part 2)

Un MOOC francophone d'algèbre linéaire accessible à tous, enseigné de manière rigoureuse et ne nécessitant aucun prérequis.

MATH-310: Algebra

This is an introduction to modern algebra: groups, rings and fields.

MATH-334: Representation theory

Study the basics of representation theory of groups and associative algebras.

MATH-311: Algebra IV - rings and modules

Ring and module theory with a major emphasis on commutative algebra and a minor emphasis on homological algebra.

Hopf algebras and Hopf-Galois extensions in infinity-categories

Aras Ergus

In this thesis, we study interactions between algebraic and coalgebraic structures in infinity-categories (more precisely, in the quasicategorical model of (infinity, 1)-categories). We define a notion of a Hopf algebra H in an E-2-monoidal infinity-category and lift some results about ordinary Hopf algebras, such as the fundamental theorem of Hopf modules, to this setting. We also study Hopf-Galois extensions in this context. Given a candidate Hopf-Galois extension, i.e., a map f : A -> B of H-comodule algebras where H coacts on A trivially, we construct a structured version of the comparison map B (x)_A B -> H (x) B that allows us to compare the category of descent data for f with a category of "B-modules equipped with a semilinear coaction of H". We provide further insights into the case of commutative (i.e., E-infinity) comodule algebras over a commutative Hopf algebra, for instance a description of the aforementioned category of modules equipped with a semilinear coaction as the limit of a "categorified cobar construction". Moreover, we provide a simple description of comodules over a space in slice categories of the infinity-category of spaces, which enables us to realize multiplicative Thom objects as comodule algebras and thus incorporate them into the aforementioned framework.

EPFL2022

Reduced representations of complexes, signals, and multifiltrations

Celia Camille Hacker

The field of computational topology has developed many powerful tools to describe the shape of data, offering an alternative point of view from classical statistics. This results in a variety of complex structures that are not always directly amenable for machine learning tasks. We develop theory and algorithms to produce computable representations of simplicial or cell complexes, potentially equipped with additional information such as signals and multifiltrations. The common goal of the topics discussed in this thesis is to find reduced representations of these often high dimensional and complex structures to better visualize, transform or formulate theoretical results about them. We extend the well known graph learning algorithm node2vec to simplicial complexes, a higher dimensional analogue of graphs. To this end we propose a way to define random walks on simplicial complexes, which we then use to design an extension of node2vec called k-simplex2vec, producing a representation of the simplices in a Euclidean space. Furthermore, the study of this method leads to interesting questions about robustness of graph and simplicial learning methods. In the case of graphs, we study node2vec embeddings arising from different parameter sets, analysing their quality and stability using various measures. In the topic of signal processing, we explore how discrete Morse theory can be used for compression and reconstruction of cell complexes equipped with signals. In particular we study the effect of the compression of a complex on the Hodge decomposition of its signals. We study how the signal changes through compression and reconstruction by introducing a topological reconstruction error, showing in particular that part of the Hodge decomposition is preserved. Moreover, we prove that any deformation retract over R can be expressed as a Morse deformation retract in a well-chosen basis, thus extending the reconstruction results to any deformation retract. In addition, we introduce an algorithm to minimize the loss induced by the reconstruction of a compressed signal. Finally, we use discrete Morse theory to compute an invariant of multi-parameter persistent homology, the rank invariant. We can restrict a multi-parameter persistence module to a one- dimensional persistence module along any line of positive slope and compute the one-dimensional analogue of the rank invariant, namely the barcode. Through a discrete Morse matching we can determine critical values in the multifiltration, which in turn allows us to identify equivalence classes of lines in the parameter space. In our main result, we explain how to compute the barcode along any given line of an equivalence class given the barcode along a representative line. This provides a way to fiber the rank invariant according to the critical values of a discrete Morse matching and to perform computations in the corresponding one-dimensional module, which is much better understood.

EPFL2022

Generic direct summands of tensor products for simple algebraic groups and quantum groups at roots of unity

Jonathan Gruber

Let G be either a simple linear algebraic group over an algebraically closed field of characteristic l>0 or a quantum group at an l-th root of unity. The category Rep(G) of finite-dimensional G-modules is non-semisimple. In this thesis, we develop new techniques for studying Krull-Schmidt decompositions of tensor products of G-modules.More specifically, we use minimal complexes of tilting modules to define a tensor ideal of singular G-modules, and we show that, up to singular direct summands, taking tensor products of G-modules respects the decomposition of Rep(G) into linkage classes. In analogy with the classical translation principle, this allows us to reduce questions about tensor products of G-modules in arbitrary l-regular linkage classes to questions about tensor products of G-modules in the principal block of G. We then identify a particular non-singular indecomposable direct summand of the tensor product of two simple G-modules in the principal block (with highest weights in two given l-alcoves), which we call the generic direct summand because it appears generically in Krull-Schmidt decompositions of tensor products of simple G-modules (with highest weights in the given l-alcoves). We initiate the study of generic direct summands, and we use them to prove a necessary condition for the complete reducibility of tensor products of simple G-modules, when G is a simple algebraic group of type A_n.

EPFL2022

Semisimple module

In mathematics, especially in the area of abstract algebra known as module theory, a semisimple module or completely reducible module is a type of module that can be understood easily from its parts. A ring that is a semisimple module over itself is known as an Artinian semisimple ring. Some important rings, such as group rings of finite groups over fields of characteristic zero, are semisimple rings. An Artinian ring is initially understood via its largest semisimple quotient.

Normal basis

In mathematics, specifically the algebraic theory of fields, a normal basis is a special kind of basis for Galois extensions of finite degree, characterised as forming a single orbit for the Galois group. The normal basis theorem states that any finite Galois extension of fields has a normal basis. In algebraic number theory, the study of the more refined question of the existence of a normal integral basis is part of Galois module theory. Let be a Galois extension with Galois group .

Euclidean domain

In mathematics, more specifically in ring theory, a Euclidean domain (also called a Euclidean ring) is an integral domain that can be endowed with a Euclidean function which allows a suitable generalization of the Euclidean division of integers. This generalized Euclidean algorithm can be put to many of the same uses as Euclid's original algorithm in the ring of integers: in any Euclidean domain, one can apply the Euclidean algorithm to compute the greatest common divisor of any two elements.

Representation theory

Representation theory is a branch of mathematics that studies abstract algebraic structures by representing their elements as linear transformations of vector spaces, and studies modules over these abstract algebraic structures. In essence, a representation makes an abstract algebraic object more concrete by describing its elements by matrices and their algebraic operations (for example, matrix addition, matrix multiplication).

Linear algebra

Linear algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning linear equations such as: linear maps such as: and their representations in vector spaces and through matrices. Linear algebra is central to almost all areas of mathematics. For instance, linear algebra is fundamental in modern presentations of geometry, including for defining basic objects such as lines, planes and rotations. Also, functional analysis, a branch of mathematical analysis, may be viewed as the application of linear algebra to spaces of functions.

Polynomials

In mathematics, a polynomial is an expression consisting of indeterminates (also called variables) and coefficients, that involves only the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and positive-integer powers of variables. An example of a polynomial of a single indeterminate x is x2 − 4x + 7. An example with three indeterminates is x3 + 2xyz2 − yz + 1. Polynomials appear in many areas of mathematics and science.

Group Cohomology MATH-506: Topology IV.b - cohomology rings

Covers the concept of group cohomology, focusing on chain complexes, cochain complexes, cup products, and group rings.

Rings and Fields: Principal Ideals and Ring Homomorphisms MATH-310: Algebra

Covers principal ideals, ring homomorphisms, and more in commutative rings and fields.

Weyl character formula MATH-680: Monstrous moonshine

Explores the proof of the Weyl character formula for finite-dimensional representations of semisimple Lie algebras.