Stanford Algebra PhD Qualifying Exam

Spring 2017 (Morning)

1. Show that up to isomorphism there is only one non-abelian finite group

with order 55.

2. Let k be an algebraically closed field.

(i) (5 points) Using the Nullstellensatz, prove that a Zariski-closed subset
Z ⊂ k n is irreducible if and only if the associated radical ideal I(Z) in
k[t1 , . . . , tn ] is prime. (Be attentive to ideals being proper or not and subsets
of k n being non-empty or not.)
(ii) (5 points) Show that if f, g ∈ k[x, y] are irreducible and not k × -
multiples of each other then the common zero locus Z(f, g) of f and g in k 2
is finite. (Hint: consider irreducible components of Z(f, g).)

3. Let M be a finitely generated module over a noetherian ring A.

(i) (5 points) If A is local and M is A-flat then prove M is free. (Hint:
For the maximal ideal m of A, make T : An → M such that T mod m is an
isomorphism.)
(ii) (5 points) If M is A-flat, show that for every prime ideal p of A there
exists f ∈ A − p such that Mf is free as an Af -module. (Hint: apply (i) to
the Ap -module Mp .)

4. Let R be a principal ideal domain, a and b nonzero elements of R, and d a

greatest common divisor of a and b in R. Define M = R/(a) and N = R/(b).
(i) (4 points) Prove TorR R
0 (M, N ) = R/(d) and Tori (M, N ) = 0 for i > 1.

(ii) (6 points) Prove TorR

1 (M, N ) = 0 if and only if d is a unit in R.

5. Let ρ : G −→ GL(V ) be a linear representation of a finite group G on a

nonzero finite-dimensional C-vector space.
(i) (5 points) State the universal properties of V ⊗ V , Sym2 (V ), and ∧2 V ,
and use those to construct well-defined natural G-actions on each.
(ii) (5 points) Prove that if V is irreducible then (V ⊗ V )G is at most 1-
dimensional, and deduce that at most one of (Sym2 (V ))G and (∧2 V )G is
nonzero. (Hint: show V ⊗ V ' HomC (V ∗ , V ) as G-representation spaces.)

1
 Stanford Algebra PhD Qualifying Exam
Spring 2017 (Afternoon)

1. Let K be the splitting field of f = T 4 − 3 ∈ Q[T ].

(i) (5 points) Prove f is irreducible over Q and that Gal(K/Q) is the
dihedral group D4 of order 8.
(ii) (5 points) Determine all index-2 subgroups of Gal(K/Q), and
pfind all
subfields of K of degree 2 over Q (describing each in the form Q( dj ) for
explicit squarefree dj ∈ Z).

2. Let k be an algebraically closed field. Define Jordan canonical form for

matrices T ∈ Matn (k), and prove its existence and uniqueness via the struc-
ture theorem for modules over a principal ideal domain (whose statement
you should give in a form suitable for your needs).
√
3. (i) (6 points) Determine the integral closure of Z in Q( d) for any square-
free integer d 6= 0, 1.
√
(ii) (4 points) For an odd prime p 6= 13, show that the ideal (p) := pZ[ −13]
is prime if and only if −13 is not a square in Fp , compute the prime ideal
factors p and p0 of (17), and verify explicitly that pp0 = (17).

4 (i) (3 points) Let A be a linear transformation of a nonzero C-vector space

V with d := dim V < ∞ such that An = I for some n > 0. Prove that A is
a scalar linear transformation if and only if | tr(A)| = d.
(ii) (7 points) For a finite group G, prove that an element g ∈ G belongs
to the center Z(G) if and only if |χ(g)| = χ(1) for all irreducible complex
characters χ.

5. Let A → B be a module-finite extension of nonzero commutative rings.

(i) (5 points) Prove that every prime ideal P of A has the form Q ∩ A for
a prime ideal Q of B and that there are no nontrivial containment relations
among such Q for a fixed P .
(ii) (5 points) In the setting of (i), prove P is maximal if and only if Q is
maximal. (You do not need to prove that module-finite maps are integral.)