Stanford University Mathematics Department

PhD Qualfying Exam in Algebra: Spring 2015 (Morning Part)

There are 5 questions in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. Each question is
worth ten points. Use a separate bluebook for each question.

Question 1. Let G be a finite group.

(i) (5 pts) Let π : G → GL(V ) be an irreducible complex representation, and

let χ be its character. If g ∈ G, show that |χ(g)| = dim(V ) if and only if
there is a scalar c ∈ C such that π(g)v = cv for all v ∈ V .
(ii) (5 pts) Show that g is in the center Z(G) if and only if |χ(g)| = χ(1) for
every irreducible character χ of G.

Question 2. Let R be a Dedekind domain.

(i) (5 pts) Show that an R-module if flat if and only if it is torsion-free, but
show that (x, y) is not a flat C[x, y]-module.
(ii) (5 pts) For ideals I and J in R, show that Tor1R (R/I, R/J) ' (I ∩J)/(IJ).
Deduce that if I, J 6= 0 then Tor1R (R/J, R/I) = 0 if and only if I +J = (1),
and give a counterexample to this equivalence with R replaced by C[x, y].

Question 3.
(i) (4 pts) Prove that for any field F , if Γ is a finite subgroup of F × then Γ
is cyclic. Explain the geometric meaning of this property when F = C.

(ii) (6 pts) Prove that a splitting field of X 15 − 2 over F7 is generated by a

primitive 45th root of unity, and determine for which n ≥ 1 the extension
F7n of F7 contains a splitting field of X 15 − 2. Compute the degree over
F7 of such a splitting field.

Question 4. Let A be a commutative ring.

(i) (5 pts) Suppose S and T are multiplicative subsets of A such that S and
T intersect the same prime ideals of A nontrivially. In other words, for
the every prime ideal p, we have S ∩ p 6= ∅ if and only if T ∩ p 6= ∅. Prove
that S −1 A and T −1 A are isomorphic as A-algebras.

(ii) (5 pts) For any f ∈ A, show that the A-algebras A[X]/(1 − f X) and Af
are isomorphic. Deduce that 1 − f X is invertible in A[X] if and only if f
is nilpotent in A.

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Question 5. Let F be an algebraically closed field. Let
 
0 1 0
M =  0 0 1  ∈ Mat3 (F ).
1 0 0

(i) (5 pts) Find the Jordan canonical form of M . Handle the case where the
characteristic of F is 3 separately.
(ii) (5 pts) If the characteristic of F is 3, show that any linear transformation
that commutes with the matrix M is either invertible or nilpotent. Show
by example that this can fail if the characteristic of F is not 3.

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 Stanford University Mathematics Department
PhD Qualfying Exam in Algebra: Spring 2015 (Afternoon Part)

There are 5 questions in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. Each question is
worth ten points. Use a separate bluebook for each question.

Question 1.
(i) (2 pts) Prove that every non-empty noetherian topological space is a finite
union of irreducible closed sets.
(ii) (3 pts) Decompose the zero locus Z(u2 + v 2 − 1, u2 − w2 − 1) ⊂ C3 into
irreducible components.
(iii) (5 pts) Prove that A := C[x, y, z, w]/(xy − zw) is a domain in which the
only units are C× , and deduce that it is not a UFD. (Hint: write A as
R[z, w]/(zw − a) for the nonzero a := xy in the domain R = C[x, y] with
fraction field K.)

Question 2. Let p > 2 be an odd prime number.

(i) (5 pts) Let G be a finite group and P a p-Sylow subgroup of G. Let N
be the normalizer of P . Let x and y be elements of the centralizer C(P )
of P . Show that if x and y are conjugate in G then they are conjugate in
N . Hint: Apply the Sylow theorems in the centralizer C(y) of y.

(ii) (5 pts) Let G = GL2 (Fp ). Find a Sylow p-subgroup and let N be its
normalizer. Show that there may be elements of N that are conjugate in
G but not conjugate in N .

Question 3. Let R be a ring and M an R-module.

(i) (3 pts) Show that every R-module has a projective resolution.

(ii) (4 pts) Suppose that two projective resolutions of M are given:

. . . −→ P3 −→ P2 −→ P1 −→ P0 −→ M −→ 0

. . . −→ Q3 −→ Q2 −→ Q1 −→ Q0 −→ M −→ 0
Show that there exists a map of complexes f• : P• −→ Q• with f0 lifting
the identity map on M . State precisely (without proof) a uniqueness
statement concerning the map f• .
(iii) (3 pts) Let R = Z/4Z and M = R/2R. Prove that a projective resolution
P• of M cannot have only finitely many non-zero terms Pi . (Hint: Think
about Tor.)

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Question 4. Let F be a field, and let V be a finite-dimensional F -vector space.
This is naturally a G-module for G := GL(V ). Let T = F be the 1-dimensional
trivial G-module.

(i) (3 pts) Define the natural G-module structures on V ∗ and V ⊗ V ∗ , and

show that the natural isomorphism V ⊗ V ∗ ' HomF (V, V ) carries the
G-action on the left over to G-conjugation on the right.
(ii) (3 pts) Define nonzero G-module homomorphisms i : T −→ V ⊗ V ∗ and
τ : V ⊗ V ∗ −→ T .
(iii) (4 pts) Let A be the kernel of τ . Show that this module is not irreducible
if the characteristic of F divides the dimension of V .

Question 5. Let A be a principal ideal domain.

(i) (4 pts) State the structure theorem for finitely generated A-modules in
the form of an existence and uniqueness result.

(ii) (6 pts) Prove the uniqueness aspect of your statement in (i).