Math 533: Abstract Algebra I
Winter 2018
Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:30-4:50pm, One Drexel Plaza 137
Course Description: Introduction to rings and modules, structure theorem for modules over a principal ideal domain, representation theory, Artin-Wedderburn theorem, tensor products, symmetric and exterior algebras, Schur functions, Schur-Weyl duality.
Prerequisites: at least one semester of abstract algebra.
Level: graduate.
Office Hours: Academic Building 322, Wednesday 1:30pm-3pm.
MRC Hours: Wednesday 3pm-5pm, Thursday 6pm-7pm.
Problem Session: Academic Building 3rd Floor Lounge, Wednesday 2pm-5pm.
Required text: Abstract Algebra, 3rd Edition, David S. Dummit and Richard M. Foote.
Other references:
- The Symmetric Group: Representations, Combinatorial Algorithms, and Symmetric Functions, 2nd Edition, Bruce E. Sagan.
Homework Policy:
You may consult each other and the textbooks above.
List all people and sources who aided you and whom you aided, and write up the solutions independently, in your own language.
Many exercises will be taken from Dummit and Foote. Solutions to these are available online. Please do not consult these until after you have turned in your homework.
Grading policy:
100% homework
Syllabus
Week 1: Jan 09 (Tue), Jan 11 (Thu)
Definitions and examples of rings and ideals, isomorphism theorems
Read 7.1--7.3 in Dummit and Foote
Problem Set 1, Due Thursday, Jan 18.
Week 2: Jan 16 (Tue), Jan 18 (Thu)
Prime ideals and maximal ideals, definitions and examples of modules
Read 7.4, 10.1--10.2 in Dummit and Foote
Problem Set 2, Due Thursday, Jan 25.
Week 3: Jan 23, Jan 25
Module isomorphism theorems, products, coproducts, bases, rank
Read 10.2--10.3
Problem Set 3, Due Thursday, February 1.
Problem 9 from Problem Set 2 was moved to Problem 5 on this set.
Week 4: Jan 30, Feb 01
Chinese Remainder Theorem, principal ideal domains
Read 7.6, skim 8.1--8.3
Problem Set 4, Due Thursday, February 8.
Week 5: Feb 06, Feb 08
Structure theorem for modules over a principal ideal domain
The Wikipedia page on Smith normal form is close to the proof given in class.
Read 12.1--12.2
Problem Set 5, Due Thursday, February 15.
Week 6: Feb 13, Feb 15
Rational canonical form, Jordan canonical form
Read 12.2--12.3
Problem Set 6, Due Thursday, February 22.
Week 7: Feb 20, Feb 22
Representation Theory, Character Theory
Read 18.1, 18.3
Problem Set 7, Due Thursday, March 1.
Week 8: Feb 27, Mar 01
Character Theory
Read 18.3, 19.1
Problem Set 8, Due Thursday, March 8.
Week 9: Mar 06, Mar 08
Character Theory
Read 18.3, 19.1
Problem Set 9, Due Thursday, March 15.
Week 10: Mar 13, Mar 15
Artin-Wedderburn Theorem, Tensor Products
Read 18.2, 10.4
We will cover some subset of the following topics, to be refined as the course progresses:
Definitions and examples of rings and ideals, isomorphism theorems
Definitions and examples of modules, isomorphism theorems
Polynomial rings
Graded rings and modules
Jordan-Hölder Theorem
Products, coproducts, universal properties
Chinese Remainder Theorem
Structure theorem for modules over a principal ideal domain
Artin-Wedderburn Theorem
Introduction to Representation Theory: irreducible representations, Maschke's Theorem, Schur's Lemma, character table, orthogonality relations
Tensor products, symmetric and exterior algebra, determinants
Representations of the symmetric group
Outcomes:
The students should have an understanding of the basic objects of abstract algebra including groups, rings, and modules. They should also gain an understanding of homomorphisms, direct sums and products, and tensor products. They should have a knowledge of the basic theorems in this area including isomorphism theorems and universal properties. They should be familiar with representation theory and the structure theorem for modules over a principal ideal domain.