1.

Discriminants of algebras over fields

If A is a finite dimensional F -algebra1, then we have the F -linear form
T rA/F : A −→ F ,
that we may use together with the multiplication map mA : A × A → A to define the F -bilinear form
A m T rA/F
BA/F : A × A −→ A −→ F ,
i.e. BA/F (x, y) := T rA/F (xy). Furthermore, for every x ∈ A, we can consider the F -linear form
x x T rA/F
T rA/F : A −→ A −→ F ,
x
i.e. T rA/F (y) := T rA/F (xy).
y
Lemma 1.1. If x ∈ A is a nilpotent element, then for every y ∈ A we have T rA/F (x) = T rA/F (x) = 0 and
x
T rA/F = 0.
Proof. Indeed by definition we have that T rA/F (x) is the trace of the multiplication by x map x : A → A.
Because x 7→ (x : A → A) is a morphism of F -algebras A → EndF (A), if x is nilpotent then x : A → A
is nilpotent and the trace of a nilpotent homomorphism between F -vector spaces is always zero, implying
y x
T rA/F (x) = 0. Because xy is nilpotent if x is nilpotent, we also see that T rA/F (x) = T rA/F (y) = 0 for
every y ∈ A. 

If n := dimF (A) and ω 1 , ..., ω n ∈ A is an ordered family of elements, we may form the matrix



ΩA/F (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) := T rA/F (ω i ω j ) = BA/F (ω i , ω j ) ∈ Mn (F )
and we define
∆A/F (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) := det (Ω (ω 1 , ..., ω n )) ∈ F .
The following proposition summarises basic properties of these quantities: it is obtained from Lemma 1.3
below specialized to V = A and B = BA/F , noticing that then we have ΩB (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) = ΩA/F (ω 1 , ..., ω n )
and ∆B (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) = ∆A/F (ω 1 , ..., ω n ).
Proposition 1.2. With the notations introduced above, the following facts are true.
(1) Suppose that ω 01 , ..., ω 0n ∈ A is another ordered family of elements and that
X
ω 0i = aij ω j .
j

Setting A := (aij ) ∈ Mn (A) we have

ΩA/F (ω 01 , ..., ω 0n ) = AΩA/F (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) At
and
2
∆A/F (ω 01 , ..., ω 0n ) = det (A) ∆A/F (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) .
(2) Suppose that ω 1 , ..., ω n ∈ A is a basis of A over F . Then we have the equivalence
BA/F is perfect ⇔ ∆A/F (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) 6= 0.
(3) Suppose that BA/F is perfect. Then we have the equivalence
{ω 1 , ..., ω n } ⊂ A is a basis of A over F ⇔ ∆A/F (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) 6= 0.
Lemma 1.3. Suppose that V is a finite dimensional F -vector space of dimension n = dimF (V ), that
B : V × V → F is an F -bilinear form and that ω 1 , ..., ω n ∈ V is an ordered family of elements. Define a
matrix
ΩB (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) := (B (ω i , ω j )) ∈ Mn (F )
and set
∆B (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) := det (ΩB (ω 1 , ..., ω n )) ∈ F .
1Always understood unitary and commutative.

1
 (1) Suppose that ω 01 , ..., ω 0n ∈ A is another ordered family of elements and that
X
ω 0i = aij ω j .
j

Setting A := (aij ) ∈ Mn (A) we have

ΩB (ω 01 , ..., ω 0n ) = AΩB (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) At
and
2
∆B (ω 01 , ..., ω 0n ) = det (A) ∆B (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) .
(2) Suppose that ω 1 , ..., ω n ∈ V is a basis of A over F . Then we have the equivalence
B is perfect ⇔ ∆B (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) 6= 0.
(3) Suppose that B is perfect. Then we have the equivalence
{ω 1 , ..., ω n } ⊂ V is a basis of V over F ⇔ ∆B (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) 6= 0.
t t
Let us define ω 0 := (ω 01 , ..., ω 0n ) and ω := (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) . Then ω 0 = Aω and, writing ω 0i =
P
Proof. (1)P k aik ω k
0
and ω j = l ajl ω l , we see that

X
B ω 0i , ω 0j = aik ajl B (ω k , ω l ) ,
k,l
which is the (i, j)-entry of AΩB (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) At . The first assertion is proved and the second follows from it.
(2) Indeed, the matrix Ω := ΩB (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) represents B : V × V → F with respect to the isomorphism
A ' F n induced by the ordered basis {ω 1 , ..., ω n }. Writing again B : V → HomF (V, F ) (resp. Ω :
F n → HomF (F n , F )) for the F -linear homomorphism induced from the bilinear form B : V × V → F
(resp. Ω : F n × F n → F ), we have that B is an isomorphism if and only if Ω is an isomorphism. The
latter condition means that Ω is injective (because F n and HomF (F n , F ) have the same dimension), i.e. if
(y 7→ xt Ωy) ∈ HomF (F n , F ) is zero, then x = 0, or again if xt Ωy = 0 for every y then x = 0. But because
z t y = 0 for every y is equivalent to z = 0, this implication is equivalent to the implication xt Ω = 0 ⇒ x = 0,
i.e. the injectivity of x 7→ xt Ω from F n to F n , equivalently the fact that this map is an isomorphism (its
source and target having the same dimension), or in other words det (Ω) 6= 0.
(3) If ω 1 , ..., ω n ∈ V is a basis of V then ∆B (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) 6= 0 inPview of (2). On the other hand, if
n
ω 1 , ..., ω n ∈ V is not a basis, we may assume that we may write ω 1 = k=2 ck ω k for some ck ∈ F . Then we
see that    Pn 
B (ω 1 , ω 1 ) ... ... k=2 ck B (ω 1 , ω k ) ... ...
ΩB (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) =  ... ... ...  =  P ... ... ... 
n
B (ω n , ω 1 ) ... ... k=2 cn B (ω n , ω k ) ... ...
and we see that the first column is a linear combination of the other columns, from which we deduce that
∆B (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) := det (ΩB (ω 1 , ..., ω n )) = 0. 

The following result is a consequence of Artin’s theorem on independence of characters.

Proposition 1.4. Suppose that A/F = E/F is a field extension.
x
• If E/F is separable then for every 0 6= x ∈ E we have T rE/F 6= 0.
x
• If E/F is not separable then we have T rE/F = 0 for every x ∈ E.
P
Proof. Indeed, if E/F is a separable field extension, then T rE/F = σ∈HomF −alg (E,Ω) σ 6= 0 by Artin’s
x
theorem on independence of characters. But then we see that, for every x 6= 0, we also have T rE/F 6= 0
−1
x


because there is z such that T rE/F (z) 6= 0 and then T rE/F x z = T rE/F (z) 6= 0.
x
On the other hand, if E/F is not separable, then T rE/F = 0 and therefore T rE/F = T rE/F ◦ x = 0 for
every x ∈ E. 

Recall that, if A is a finite dimensional F -algebra, then we may write

Yt
A' Ai
i=1
2
with Ai an F -algebra having a maximal ideal mi such that msi i = 0 for some integer si . Then mi ⊂ Ai is the
Ft
unique maximal ideal of Ai 2 and we set Ei := mAi . Choosing bases Bi of Ai over F and setting B := i=1 Bi
yields a basis of A over F that can be used to show that, if x = (xi ) and y = (yi ), then
Xt Xt Xt
x xi
T rA/F (x) = T rAi /F (xi ) , BA/F (x, y) = BAi /F (xi , yi ) and T rA/F (y) = T rAi /F
(yi ) .
i=1 i=1 i=1
Let us also remark
 that, because the elements of mi are nilpotents, it follows from Lemma 1.1 that mi ⊂
xi xi
ker T rAi /F , from which we see that T rAi /F
factors through Ei .

Theorem 1.5. The following facts are equivalent.

Qt
(1) A ' i=1 Ei with Ei /F a separable field extension.
x
(2) For every every 0 6= x ∈ A we have T rA/F 6= 0.
(3) The bilinear form BA/F is perfect.
(4) If {ω 1 , ..., ω n } ⊂ A is a basis of A over F , the ∆ (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) 6= 0.
Proof. (3) ⇔ (4) This is Proposition 1.2 (2).
(2) ⇔ (3) To say that BA/F is perfect is to say
that the associated morphism BA/F : A → HomF (A, F )
is injective, i.e. ∀x 6= 0 then y 7→ BA/F (x, y) ∈ HomF (A, F ) is non-zero, i.e. ∀x 6= 0 there exists some
x
y ∈ A such that T rA/F (y) = BA/F (x, y) 6= 0, which is (2).
Qt x
(1) ⇔ (2) If A ' i=1 Ei with Ei /F = Ai /F a separable field extension, then we know that T rA/F 6= 0 if
x
P t xi xi
x = (xi ) 6= 0 because T rA/F = i=1 T rEi /F and T rEi /F 6= 0 by Proposition 1.4. On the other hand, if (1)
is not satisfied, there is some index i, say i = 1, such that either m1 = 0 but A1 = E1 is not separable over
x1 x1
F or m1 6= 0. In the first case T rA 1 /F
= T rE 1 /F
= 0 for every x1 ∈ E1 thanks to Proposition 1.4: choosing
x
P t xi 1
x = (1, 0, ..., 0) 6= 0 we see that T rA/F = i=1 T rA i /F
= T rA 1 /F
= 0 and (2) is not true. In the second case,
if 0 6= x1 ∈ m1 we see from Lemma 1.1 that T rA1 /F = 0 because xs11 ∈ ms11 = 0 showing that x1 is nilpotent:
x1

x
Pt xi x1
choosing x = (x1 , 0, ..., 0) 6= 0 we see that T rA/F = i=1 T rA i /F
= T rA 1 /F
= 0 and (2) fails once again.
Another proof of (1) ⇔ (4). As above (1) ⇒ (2) ⇔ (4). For the other implication suppose that (1) is not
satisfied and i = 1 is such that either m1 = 0 but A1 = E1 is not separable over F or m1 6= 0. Then arguing
ω 01
as above we see that there is some ω 01 = x 6= 0 such that T rA/F = 0. But then we can complete {ω 01 } to a
basis {ω 01 , ..., ω 0n } of A over F and we see that
  ω 01
 
T rA/F (ω 01 ω 01 ) ... ... T rA/F (ω 01 ) ... ...
 
0 ... ...
ΩA/F (ω 01 , ..., ω 0n ) =  ... ... ...  =  ... ... ...  =  ... ... ...  .
 
0 0 0
T rA/F (ω n ω 1 ) ... ... ω 0 ... ...
T r 1 (ω 0 ) ... ...
A/F n

It follows that ∆B (ω 01 , ..., ω 0n )

:= det (ΩB (ω 01 , ..., ω 0n ))
= 0. If now {ω 1 , ..., ω n } ⊂ A is an arbitrary basis,
Proposition 1.2 (1) shows that we also have ∆B (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) = 0. 

Corollary 1.6. Suppose that one of the above equivalent conditions is satisfied and that ω 1 , ..., ω n ∈ A.
Then we have the equivalence
{ω 1 , ..., ω n } ⊂ A is a basis of A over F ⇔ ∆A/F (ω 1 , ..., ω n ) 6= 0.
Proof. Apply the above theorem and Proposition 1.2 (3). 

2Equivalently, A − m ⊂ A× (hence the equality). Indeed, if x ∈

/ mi , because Ax + mi = A, we may write
i i i
1 = ax + m
for some a ∈ A and m ∈ mi . But then
ax = 1 − m ∈ 1 + mi ⊂ A×
i ,
implying that x ∈ A×
i .
3