Centra of Quiver Algebras

Elin Gawell
Centra of Quiver Algebras
Elin Gawell
© Elin Gawell, Stockholm 2014

ISBN 978-91-7447-960-7

Printed in Sweden by US-AB, Stockholm 2014

Distributor: Department of Mathematics, Stockholm University

Abstract

A partly (anti-)commutative quiver algebra is a quiver algebra bound by an

(anti-)commutativity ideal, that is, a quadratic ideal generated by mono-
mials and (anti-)commutativity relations. We give a combinatorial descrip-
tion of the ideals and the associated generator graphs, from which one can
quickly determine if the ideal is admissible or not. We describe the center
of a partly (anti-)commutative quiver algebra and state necessary and suffi-
cient conditions for the center to be finitely genterated as a K -algebra. Ex-
amples are provided of partly (anti-)commutative quiver algebras that are
Koszul algebras. Necessary and sufficient conditions for finite generation
of the Hochschild cohomology ring modulo nilpotent elements for a partly
(anti-)commutative Koszul quiver algebra are given.
Sammanfattning

En delvis (anti-)kommutativ kogeralgebra är en kogeralgebra kvotad med ett

(anti-)kommutativitetsideal, dvs ett kvadratiskt ideal genererat av monom
och (anti-)kommutativitetsrelationer. Vi ger en kombinatorisk beskrivning
av dessa ideal och deras associerade generatorgrafer med hjälp av vilken
man snabbt kan avgöra om idealet är admissibelt eller inte. Vi beskriver
centrum av en delvis (anti-)kommutativ kogeralgebra och formulerar nöd-
vändiga och tillräckliga villkor för att centrum ska vara ändligt genererat
som en K -algebra. Exempel ges på delvis (anti-)kommutativa kogeralgebror
som är Koszulalgebror. Tillräckliga och nödvändiga villkor ges för ändlig
generering av Hochschild-kohomologiringen modulo nilpotenta element för
delvis (anti-)kommutativa Koszulkogeralgebror.
Contents

Abstract v

Sammanfattning vii

Acknowledgements xi

1 Introduction 13
1.1 Centra of quiver algebras and finite generation of the Hochschild
cohomology ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.2 Applications in the theory of support varieties . . . . . . . . . . 16

2 Preliminaries 17
2.1 Quivers and path algebras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3 Commutativity ideals and centra of quiver algebras 21

3.1 Admissible commutativity and anti-commutativity ideals . . . 21
3.2 Centra of partly (anti-)commutative quiver algebras . . . . . . 32
3.3 The ring structure of the center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.4 Finitely generated centra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

4 Projective resolutions and Koszul algebras 45

4.1 Projective resolutions of partly commutative and partly anti-
commutative quiver algebras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.2 Introduction to Koszul quiver algebras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.3 Koszulity of some partly (anti-)commutative quiver algebras . 54

5 The graded center and finite generation of the Hochschild coho-

mology ring 57
5.1 Graded centra of partly (anti-)commutative quiver algebras . . 57
5.2 Introduction to the Hochschild cohomology ring . . . . . . . . 59
5.3 Finite generation of the Hochschild cohomology ring . . . . . . 61
Acknowledgements

First, I would like to thank my advisor Christian Gottlieb for providing help-
ful comments, finding unclarities and for lots of support and encourage-
ment. My gratitude goes to my second advisor Qimh Xantcha, Uppsala Uni-
versity, for generously sharing his ideas, teaching me how to do mathemati-
cal research and supporting me in every way.
I want to acknowledge Sarah Witherspoon, Texas A&M, for giving me the
article with the example that was the starting point for this work and intro-
ducing me to the topic of support varieties of finite-dimensional algebras.
I also want to thank Wojciech Chachólski, KTH, for introducing me to the
facinating topic of quiver algebras and for encouragement.
Helpful comments were provided by my opponent, Jan Snellman, Lin-
köping University.
I’m grateful to the late Torsten Ekedahl for accepting me as his PhD-
student and even though this thesis turned out to concern an area of math-
ematics quite different from the mathematical research I started with I’m
sure that I gained a lot of mathematical insights from working with him.
Without the support and encouragement from my family, especially my
husband Niklas, and all my friends this would not have been possible. I’m
especially thankful towards my friends Scarlett Szpryngiel, Elin Ottergren
and Linda Joelsson who encouraged me to finish this project, even when I
felt like I wanted to burn all my notes and smash my computer.
And last, but not least, I would like to thank all my colleagues and former
colleagues at the departments of mathematics at SU and KTH.
1. Introduction

1.1 Centra of quiver algebras and finite generation of

the Hochschild cohomology ring
In this thesis we study two types of finite-dimensional quiver algebras, quiver
algebras bound by a commutativity ideal and quiver algebras bound by an
anti-commutativity ideal. A commutativity ideal is a quadratic ideal gener-
ated by monomials and relations of the form ab − ba, analogously an anti-
commutativity ideal is generated by monomials and relations of the form
ab+ba. We call such algebras partly (anti-)commutative algebras. The start-
ing point for our interest in such algebras is the following example:

Example 1.1.1. [Sna08] Let K be a field and let Λ = K Q/I where Q is the
quiver
a

 c /◦
D◦

and I = 〈a 2 , b 2 , ab − ba, ac〉. Then the Hochschild cohomology ring modulo

nilpotent elements
½
K ⊕ K [a, b]b if charK = 2
HH (Λ)/N ∼
∗
=
K ⊕ K [a 2 , b 2 ]b 2 if charK 6= 2

This very simple quiver algebra provided a counterexample to a conjec-

ture made by Snashall and Solberg in [SS04], that the Hochschild cohomol-
ogy ring modulo nilpotent elements, HH∗ (Λ)/N , of a finite-dimensional
K -algebra Λ is always finitely generated as a K -algebra. The finite gener-
ation of HH∗ (Λ)/N is true for quiver algebras bound by monomial ideals
(see [GSS04]). Quiver algebras bound by commutativity ideals are therefore
a logical next step to investigate.
The algebra in Example 1.1.1 is a partly commutative quiver algebra.
Readers unfamiliar with quiver algebras can find all the basic defintions and
results needed to understand this thesis in Chapter 2.

13
 In Chapter 3 we introduce commutativity ideals and anti-commutativity
ideals; quadratic ideals generated by only monomials and binomial com-
mutativity or anti-commutativity relations. We describe these ideals and in-
troduce the associated generator graphs, a combinatorial description used
to determine if the ideal is admissible or not, i.e. if the quiver algebra bound
by the ideal is finite-dimensional or not.
The main result in Section 3.1 is Theorem 3.1.25, which gives a short and
easy way to determine if the ideal is admissible.

Theorem. A commutativity (or anti-commutativity) ideal, I , is admissible

if and only if the generator graph corresponding to the orthogonal ideal I ⊥ ,
does not contain any directed cycle.

The Hochschild cohomology ring modulo nilpotence in Example 1.1.1

has a connection to the center of the algebra since for Koszul quiver algebras
we have that HH∗ (Λ)/N ∼ = Zgr (Λ! ) (see Theorem 5.2.3 proven in [BGSS08]).
This is the reason for our investigation of the centra of partly (anti-)commuta-
tive quiver algebras. The centra of such algebras is explicitly given in Theo-
rem 3.2.7 and Theorem 3.2.9.

Theorem. Let I be a square-free commutativity ideal. The positively graded

part of the center of K Q/I has a basis given by all non-zero products a 1 a 2 . . . a k ,
of loops with the same basepoint, such that

1. All a i commute non-trivially modulo I : a i a j = a j a i 6= 0 for all i and j .

2. For all arrows b in the quiver, one of the following two options holds:

• b commutes with all a i .

• There exist i and j such that a i b = 0 = ba j .

Theorem. Let I be a square-free anti-commutativity ideal. The positively

graded part of the center of K Q/I has a basis given by all non-zero products
a 1 a 2 . . . a k such that

1. If k is even:

• The monomial contains an even number of each arrow, a i .

• For all arrows a i , a j in the monomial a i a j = −a j a i 6= 0.
• For all arrows b in the quiver, one of the following two options
holds:
– b anti-commutes non-trivially with all a i , i.e. ba i = −a i b 6=
0.

14
 – There exist i and j such that a i b = 0 = ba j .

2. If k is odd:

• The monomial contains an odd number of each arrow, a i .

• For all arrows a i , a j in the monomial a i a j = −a j a i 6= 0.
• For all other arrows b, there exist i and j such that a i b = 0 = ba j .

The main results in Section 3.4 are necessary and sufficient conditions
for the center to be finitely generated as a K -algebra, see Theorem 3.4.4 and
Theorem 3.4.8. Here Q x denotes the subquiver of Q consisting of the vertex
x and all arrows that either starts or ends in x and I x the intersection of the
ideal I and the algebra K Q x .

Theorem. Suppose I is an (anti-)commutativity ideal such that I ⊥ is admis-

sible. Then Z (K Q/I ) is finitely generated as a K -algebra if and only if for all
x in Q 0 either Z (K Q x /I x ) is trivial or

I x ⊇ 〈ab ± ba, ca, ad 〉 a, b loops with basepoint x, .

c, d arrows such that o(c) 6= t(c) = x, t(d ) 6= o(d ) = x

The connection between the Hochschild cohomology ring and the cen-
ter requires that the algebra is a Koszul algebra, i.e. that it has a linear, mini-
mal, projective resolution. In Chapter 4 we introduce the relation graph and
use it to construct linear, projective resolutions for some special types of al-
gebras. We also give examples of finite-dimensional partly (anti-)commuta-
tive quiver algebras that are Koszul algebras.
In Chapter 5 we state a result for finite generation of the Hochschild co-
homology ring for a partly (anti-)commutative Koszul quiver algebra. For
Koszul quiver algebras, K Q/I , the Koszul dual is given by K Q op /I o⊥ (see The-
orem 4.2.6 proven in [GMV98]) and the Hochschild cohomology ring mod-
ulo nilpotent elements has a particularly nice structure, since HH∗ (Λ)/N ∼ =
! op ⊥
Zgr (Λ ). We first investigate the graded center of K Q /I o and then find nec-
essary and sufficient conditions for finite generation of the Hochschild co-
homology ring modulo nilpotence. The main theorems in the chapter are
Theorem 5.3.2 and Theorem 5.3.3.

Theorem. Let I be an admissible (anti-)commutativity ideal and Λ = K Q/I

a Koszul algebra. Then the Hochschild cohomology ring modulo nilpotence,
HH∗ (Λ)/N , is finitely generated if and only if for all x ∈ Q 0 either Z ((Λ! )x ) is
trivial or for any pair of loops a, b with basepoint x we have that ab − ba ∈ I x
(or ab + ba ∈ I x ) and the only monomial in I x containing a loop a is a 2 .

15
1.2 Applications in the theory of support varieties
The theory of support varieties of finitely generated modules over a finite-
dimensional K -algebra Λ using Hochschild cohomology was introduced by
Snashall and Solberg in [SS04]. One essential property needed to apply their
theory is that the Hochschild cohomology ring modulo nilpotent elements,
HH∗ (Λ)/N , is finitely generated as a K -algebra. This was known to be true
for:

• Finite-dimensional selfinjective algebras of finite representation type

over an algebraically closed field [GSS03]

• Finite-dimensional monomial algebras [GSS04].

• Finite-dimensional algebras of finite global dimension [Hap89].

• Any block of a group ring of a finite group [Eve61].

• Any block of a finite dimensional cocommutative Hopf algebra [FS97].

• Λ = K Q/I is a finite-dimensional Nakayama algebra over a field K

bound by an admissible ideal I generated by a single relation [SS04].

Snashall and Solberg conjectured that HH∗ (Λ)/N is always finitely gener-
ated as a K -algebra when Λ is a finite dimensional algebra over a field K . Xu
found a counterexample to this conjecture when the field K has character-
istic 2 [Xu08], which was later generalized to all characteristics by Snashall
[Sna08] (see example 1.1.1). Several people have been working on finding
the necessary and sufficient conditions to make HH∗ (Λ)/N a finitely gener-
ated algebra over HH∗ (Λ), for example Parker and Snashall [PS11] and from
this work also more classes of counterexamples have been found [XZ11].
We provide examples of finite-dimensional algebras where HH∗ (Λ)/N
is finitely generated and also algebras where it is not.

16
2. Preliminaries

2.1 Quivers and path algebras

This section is aimed at those who are not familiar with quivers and path
algebras. It hopefully contains all the basic defintions one needs to be able
to understand Chapter 3 and provides a ground for the whole thesis. In this
thesis K is always assumed to be an algebraically closed field.

Definition 2.1.1. A quiver Q is a directed graph. It consists of two sets: Q 0

(called vertices or points) and Q 1 (called arrows), and two maps o, t : Q 1 → Q 0
which associates each arrow a ∈ Q 1 with its origin o(a) ∈ Q 0 and its target
t(a).

A priori there are no restrictions at all on a quiver Q, it can be infinite,

contain multiple edges, loops, be disconnected and/or look in any other
way.

Example 2.1.2.
(
:◦h ◦

$ 
D◦ d

◦ /◦ /◦ /◦

A quiver is finite if Q 0 and Q 1 are finite sets. In the rest of this thesis the
quiver Q is always assumed to be finite. The underlying graph Q is obtained
by forgetting the orientation of the arrows in Q. A quiver is connected if its
underlying graph is a connected graph.

Definition 2.1.3. A path of length n ≥ 1 in a quiver Q is a sequence a 1 a 2 . . . a n

where a i ∈ Q 1 and t(a i −1 ) = o(a i ). The length of a path p = a 1 a 2 . . . a n equals
the number of arrows in the path, i.e. l(p) = n. Each x ∈ Q 0 is a path of length
0. We let Q l denote the set of all paths of length l in Q. We define o(p) = o(a 1 )
and t(p) = t(a n ).

17
 A path p is called a cycle if o(p) = t(p). A loop is a cycle of length 1, i.e.
an arrow a such that o(a) = t(a). The origin and target, o(a) = t(a), of a loop
are sometimes called the basepoint of the loop a. We say that a quiver is
acyclic if it does not contain any cycles. If p = a 1 a 2 . . . a n is a path, we say
that a i a i +1 . . . a k is a subpath of p if 1 ≤ i ≤ k ≤ n.

Definition 2.1.4. The path algebra K Q of a quiver Q is the K -algebra whose

underlying vector space has a basis consisting of all paths of length ≥ 0 and
multiplication defined by

a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∗ b 1 b 2 . . . b k = δt(an )o(b1 ) a 1 a 2 . . . a n b 1 b 2 . . . b k ,

where δt(an )o(b1 ) denotes the Kronecker delta. Hence the product of two
paths, p 1 ∗ p 2 = 0 if t(p 1 ) 6= o(p 2 ) and p 1 ∗ p 2 = p 1 p 2 if t(p 1 ) = o(p 2 ). If x i
and x j are two paths of length 0 then x i ∗ x j = δxi x j x i .

The path algebra is an associative algebra, in general non-commutative.

The elements in Q 0 are pairwise orthogonal idempotents. If Q 0 is finite,
P
then K Q has an identity element, x∈Q 0 x. The path algebra K Q is finite-
dimensional if and only if Q is finite and acyclic. If the quiver Q is not con-
nected, then the path algebra splits into a direct sum K Q = ni=1 K Q i , where
L

Q i are the connected components of Q. Hence we can without loss of gen-

erality assume that Q is always connected.

Lemma 2.1.5. K Q is a graded algebra.

Proof. By the property of the basis elements we have a direct sum decom-
position of K Q = K Q 0 ⊕K Q 1 ⊕K Q 2 ⊕· · ·⊕K Q l ⊕. . . of the K -vector space K Q,
where K Q l is the subspace of K Q generated by Q l , the set of paths of length
l . That (K Q m ) · (K Q n ) ⊆ K Q m+n for all m, n ≥ 0 is easy to see, since the prod-
uct of a path of length m and a path of length n is either 0 or a path of length
m + n.

Definition 2.1.6. The two-sided ideal of the path algebra K Q generated by

the arrows of Q is called the arrow ideal and denoted J.

There is an obvious direct sum decomposition of J = K Q 1 ⊕ K Q 2 ⊕ · · · ⊕

K Q l ⊕ . . . of J as a K -vector space. Hence Jl = m≥l K Q m for each l ≥ 1.
L

Definition 2.1.7. A two-sided ideal I of K Q is said to be admissible if there

exists m ≥ 2 such that
Jm ⊆ I ⊆ J2
If I is an admissible ideal of K Q, then the quotient algebra K Q/I is called a
bound quiver algebra.

18
 For any admissible ideal, I , the algebra K Q/I is finite dimensional and
associative. We can also note that the Jacobson radical of K Q/I is the arrow
ideal modulo the ideal, J/I . This is seen by realizing that the only maximal
right ideals (which are the same as the left maximal ideals) are of the form
L
mi = K x 1 ⊕ K x 2 ⊕ · · · ⊕ K x i −1 ⊕ K x i +1 ⊕ K x i +2 ⊕ · · · ⊕ K x n ⊕ j ≥1 K Q j , where
Q 0 = {x 1 , . . . , x n }. The intersection of these ideals is clearly J/I . The algebra
(K Q/I )/rad(K Q/I ) is isomorphic to K Q/J. In the rest of this thesis we will
denote J/I by r.
Example 2.1.8. (i) Consider the following quiver

$ z
a1 ◦ a2

The ideal 〈a 13 , a 22 , a 1 a 2 − a 2 a 1 〉 is clearly admissible, but if we remove

any of the three generators, the ideal fails to be admissible.

(ii) For any finite quiver Q and any m ≥ 2 the ideal Jm is of course admis-
sible.

(iii) If Q is finite and acyclic, then Jm = 0 for m big enough, and hence the
zero ideal is admissible in this case.

(iv) Let Q be the quiver below

a2
◦ _? /◦
?? 
?? 
a 1 ?? a3

D◦

a4

The ideal 〈a 1 a 2 a 3 − a 4 〉 is not admissible, since it is not contained in

J2 . The ideal 〈a1 a2 〉 is not admissible, since it does not contain a4n for
any n, and hence there exist no m ≥ 2 such that Jm ⊆ 〈a 1 a 2 〉. The ideal
〈a 1 a 2 , a 42 〉 is an example of an admissible ideal of K Q.
Definition 2.1.9. A relation, ρ, in Q with coefficients in K is a K -linear
combination of paths, p i , of length at least 2 with the same origin and tar-
get. Thus, ρ = m i =1 λi p i such that o(p i ) = o(p j ) and t(p i ) = t(p j ) for all
P

0 ≤ i , j ≤ m, λi ∈ K (not all zero).

If m = 1 the relation is called a monomial relation.
Definition 2.1.10. Let xK Q y be the K -vector space consisting of all paths
starting in x ∈ Q 0 and ending in y ∈ Q 0 . Two relations ρ 1 and ρ 2 are said to
be unrelated if ρ 1 ∈ xK Q y and ρ 2 ∈ wK Qz where either x 6= w or y 6= z (or
both).

19
 This gives a decomposition of K Q as a vector space, since
M
KQ = xK Q y.
x,y∈Q 0

Hence any element in K Q can be written as a unique sum of unrelated rela-

tions.

Lemma 2.1.11. If I is an admissible ideal then I is finitely generated as a

K Q-module.

Proof. Let m ≥ 2 be an integer such that Jm ⊆ I . We then have a short exact

sequence 0 → Jm → I → I /Jm → 0 of K Q-modules. Hence, if Jm and I /Jm
are finitely generated, then so is I . We have that Jm is generated by all paths
of length m, and since Q is finite so is the set of paths of length m. Thus I /Jm
is an ideal of a finite-dimensional algebra K Q/Jm and hence it’s a finite-
dimensional K -vector space and a finitely generated K Q-module.

Lemma 2.1.12. Let σ ∈ K Q, with σ = ρ 1 + · · · + ρ n , unrelated relations ρ i . We

then have 〈σ〉 = 〈ρ 1 , . . . , ρ n 〉.

Proof. If σ is not a relation (and hence does not lie in one of the xK Q y), then
xσy is either 0 or a relation ρ i . Since σ = x,y∈Q 0 xσy, the non-zero ele-
P

ments in the set {xσy | x, y ∈ Q 0 } form a finite set of relations, {ρ 1 , ρ 2 , . . . , ρ n },

that generates 〈σ〉.

It follows from the lemma above that for any ideal I generated in degree
2 or higher there exists a finite set of relations such that I = 〈ρ 1 , . . . , ρ n 〉.

Corollary 2.1.13. Let p i , p j ∈ K Q. If p i , p j ∉ I but p i − p j ∈ I then p i − p j is

a relation.

Proof. If p i − p j is not a relation, then p i , p j are unrelated and, by Lemma

2.1.12, we have that 〈p i , p j 〉 = 〈p i − p j 〉 and hence p i , p j ∈ I .

It follows from Corollary 2.1.13 that for any non-zero monomial p ∈ K Q/I
origin of p, o(p), and target of p, t(p), are well-defined.

Corollary 2.1.14. Let a i , a j ∈ Q 1 . Assume a i a j ∉ I . If a i a j − a j a i ∈ I , then a i

and a j are loops.

Proof. Since a i a j − a j a i is a relation we have that o(a i ) = o(a j ) and t(a i ) =

t(a j ). Since ai a j 6= 0 we have that o(ai ) = t(a j ) and hence ai and a j are
loops.

When I is a homogeneous ideal, then K Q/I is a graded algebra.

20
3. Commutativity ideals and
centra of quiver algebras

3.1 Admissible commutativity and anti-commutativity

ideals
We always assume that Q is a finite, connected quiver and K is an alge-
braically closed field. If nothing else is written a i denote an arrow. When
we use the terms monomial we always refer to a path with coefficient 1. A
binomial is a sum or difference of two monomials.

Definition 3.1.1. A commutativity ideal is an ideal generated by quadratic

monomials a i a j and relations of the form a k a l −a l a k . An anti-commutativity
ideal is an ideal generated by quadratic monomials a i a j and relations of the
form a k a l + a l a k .

If charK = 2 we have that every anti-commutativity ideal is also a com-

mutativity ideal. When working in characteristic 2 one may consider all such
ideals to be commutativity ideals.

Definition 3.1.2. A minimal generating set of an (anti-)commutativity ideal

is a set I 2 = {a i a j , a k a l −a l a k }i , j ,k,l (or I 2 = {a i a j , a k a l +a l a k }i , j ,k,l ) such that
a k a l − a l a k ∈ I 2 (or a k a l + a l a k ∈ I 2 ) implies that a k a l ∉ I 2 and a l a k ∉ I 2 .

The generators of the form a i a j are called the monomial generators and
the generators of the form a k a l − a l a k and a k a l + a l a k are called the bino-
mial generators.
Any x ∈ I can be written as
X X
x = p i j a i a j q i j + p kl (a k a l − a l a k )q kl
i,j k,l

where p i j , q i j , p kl and q kl are paths in Q.

Definition 3.1.3. Assume a i a j ∉ I . If a i a j − a j a i ∈ I 2 or a i a j + a j a i ∈ I 2

we say that the transposition (a i a j ) is an allowed transposition. Two paths,
p, q, in K Q are equivalent p ∼ q, if p can be obtained from q by allowed
transpositions.

21
 It is easy to see that ∼ is an equivalence relation.

Lemma 3.1.4. Let I be a commutativity ideal with minimal generating set

〈a i a j , a k a l −a l a k 〉i , j ,k,l . Any monomial m ∈ I is equivalent to a monomial of
the form pa i a j q, where a i a j ∈ I and p, q paths. Conversely, all monomials
of these types lie in I .

Proof. Assume m ∈ I . Then

X X
m= p i j ai a j qi j + p kl (a k a l − a l a k )q kl
i,j k,l

for some paths p i j , q i j , p kl and q kl . Since m is a monomial either m =

pa i a j q, where p, q paths, or we have cancellations in the expression. As-
sume that m 6= pa i a j q for each a i a j ∈ I , then m = m 1 − (m 1 − m 2 ) − (m 2 −
m 3 ) − (m 3 − m 4 ) − . . . (m i −1 − m i ), where m i = m and m j − m j +1 = p(a k a l −
a l a k )q for some p, q ∈ K Q and a k a l − a l a k ∈ I 2 . By definition m j ∼ m j +1
and hence m 1 ∼ m 2 ∼ m 3 ∼ · · · ∼ m i = m. By assumption m 1 is of the form
pa i a j q, and hence m is equivalent to a monomial of the form pa i a j q.
If m ∼ pa i a j q and a i a j ∈ I , then it is obvious that m ∈ I .

Lemma 3.1.5. Let I be an anti-commutativity ideal with minimal generating

set 〈a i a j , a k a l +a l a k 〉i , j ,k,l . Any monomial m ∈ I is equivalent to a monomial
of the form pa i a j q, where a i a j ∈ I and p, q paths. Conversely, all monomials
of these types lie in I .

Proof. Analogous to the proof of Lemma 3.1.4.

Corollary 3.1.6. If a 12 a 2 a 3 a 4 . . . a n ∈ I and a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∉ I then a 12 ∈ I .

Proof. This follows immediately from 3.1.4 and 3.1.5.

Lemma 3.1.7. Let I be a commutativity ideal. Let b and c be monomials.

Any binomial in I is either the sum of two monomials in I or of the form b −c
where b ∼ c.
P
Proof. Assume b − c ∈ I with b, c ∉ I . Then b − c = k,l p kl (a k a l − a l a k )q kl ,
where a k a l − a l a k are the binomial generators of I . We have that b and c
are monomials, and hence b − c = m 1 − m 2 + m 2 − m 3 + . . . m i −1 − m i , where
b = m 1 , c = m i and each m j − m j +1 = p(a k a l − a l a k )q for some generator
(a k a l − a l a k ) and some paths p, q. By definition m j ∼ m j +1 for all j , and
hence b ∼ c.
If b ∼ c then it is obvious that b − c ∈ I .

22
Corollary 3.1.8. Let I be a commutativity ideal and let p and q be non-zero
paths in K Q not contained in I . Assume that ap ∉ I and aq ∉ I . If ap −aq ∈ I ,
then p − q ∈ I .

Proof. Assume ap − aq ∈ I , then ap ∼ aq. This implies p ∼ q, and hence

p − q ∈ I by Lemma 3.1.7.

If I is an anti-commutativity ideal we get a slight modification of the

result in Lemma 3.1.7. A binomial is a sum or difference of two paths, i.e. if
b and c are monomials, then b + c and b − c are binomials.

Lemma 3.1.9. Let I be an anti-commutativity ideal. Then any binomial in I

is either

(i) a sum of two monomials in I or

(ii) of the form m 1 +m n where m 1 ∼ m n are monomials and the number of

transpositions used to transform m 1 to m n is odd or

(iii) of the form m 1 −m n where m 1 ∼ m n are monomials and the number of

transpositions used to transform m 1 to m n is even.
P P
Proof. Suppose k,l p kl (a k a l + a l a k )q kl is a binomial. Then k,l p kl (a k a l +
a l a k )q kl = m 1 + m 2 − (m 2 + m 3 ) + m 3 + · · · + (−1)n (m n−1 + m n ), where m j ∼
m j +1 for all j and any pair m j + m j +1 correspond to exactly 1 transposition.
Hence k,l p kl (a k a l + a l a k )q kl = m 1 +(−1)n m n , where m n is obtained from
P

m 1 by n − 1 transpositions.

Definition 3.1.10. Let I be an (anti-)commutativity ideal. The algebra K Q/I

is then said to be a partly (anti-)commutative algebra.

Definition 3.1.11. To every commutativity or anti-commutativity ideal I we

associate a directed graph ΓI , called the generator graph, in the following
way:

• To every arrow a ∈ Q 1 there is a vertex which we also call a.

• For every monomial ab ∈ I 2 we associate a directed edge from a to b

(the monomial a 2 will give rise to a loop in the graph).

• For every (anti-)commutativity relation ab −ba ∈ I 2 or ab +ba ∈ I 2 we

associate an undirected edge between a and b.

23
 We will abuse the notation and let ab denote not only the path of length
2 in Q and the corresponding monomial ab ∈ K Q/I , but also the edge be-
tween a and b in ΓI . If a clarification is needed we will denote the edge ab
with either an arrow (if it is directed) a → b or a — b (if it’s undirected).
If there exists a sequence of directed edges a 1 → a 2 → · · · → a n → a 1
from a 1 to a 1 we say that the generator graph contains a directed cycle.

Example 3.1.12. (i) Let I = 〈a 12 , a 22 , a 32 , a 1 a 2 − a 2 a 1 , a 1 a 3 , a 3 a 1 〉. The gen-

erator graph ΓI for this ideal is

a1 h a2 s

(a
E 3

(ii) Let I = 〈a 1 a 2 〉. Assume that the quiver also contains an arrow a 3 that
isn’t a part of any generator of I (i.e. appears in the generator graph as
an isolated vertex). The generator graph ΓI for this ideal is

a1 / a2

a3

(iii) Let I = 〈a 12 , a 22 , a 32 , a 1 a 2 − a 2 a 1 , a 2 a 3 − a 3 a 2 , a 1 a 3 , a 3 a 1 , a 2 a 4 〉. The gen-

erator graph ΓI is

a 1V a2 s
||
||
||
 || 
Ea 3 a4

The generator graph does not contain all the information about the un-
derlying quiver and hence not all the information needed to determine K Q/I .
The following example points out how the same generator graph can be as-
sociated to several different quiver algebras.

Example 3.1.13. Let I = 〈a 1 a 2 , a 2 a 3 〉. Then the generator graph ΓI is simply

a1 → a2 → a3 .

24
This ideal can be an ideal in several different quiver algebras, for example
any of the quivers depicted below.

a1

 a3
/◦
D◦

a2

a1
$ (
a3 ◦h ◦
a2

a1 a2 a3
◦ /◦ /◦ /◦

In some cases we can determine facts about the underlying quiver from
the generator graph of the ideal I , for example if a 1 a 2 is an undirected edge
we know that a 1 and a 2 are loops at the same vertex.
We will use the generator graph to detemine when a commutativity or
anti-commutativity ideal is admissible. But for this we need to define the
orthogonal ideal. K Q 2 can be viewed as a vector space spanned by all paths
in Q of length 2. This vector space is equipped with a scalar product 〈x, y〉 =
〈(x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , . . . , x n ), (y 1 , y 2 , . . . , y n )〉 = ni=1 x i y i .
P

Definition 3.1.14. Let I be a quadratic ideal with minimal generating set I 2 .

The orthogonal ideal I ⊥ is defined by

I ⊥ = 〈q ∈ K Q 2 |〈p, q〉 = 0 ∀p ∈ I 2 〉

Lemma 3.1.15. Let V be a vector space with basis e 1 , e 2 , . . . e n , and let W be a

subspace with basis

e 1 − e 2 , e 3 − e 4 , . . . , e 2k−1 − e 2k , e 2k+1 , e 2k+2 , . . . , e m .

Then
e 1 + e 2 , e 3 + e 4 , . . . e 2k−1 + e 2k , e m+1 , e m+2 , . . . , e n

is a basis of W ⊥ .

Proof. The orthogonal complement W ⊥ can be written

{x ∈ V |〈x, y〉 = 0 for all y in the generator set of W }.

That W ⊥ is a subspace of V is obvious. A simple calculation shows that e 1 +

e 2 , e 3 + e 4 , . . . e 2k−1 + e 2k , e m+1 , e m+2 , . . . , e n ∈ W ⊥ .

25
 Assume that dimW = m − k, then
 
1 −1 0 0 . . . 0 0 0 0 ... 0 0 0 ... 0

 0 0 1 −1 . . . 0 0 0 0 ... 0 0 0 ... 0 

 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . .. .. .. .. .. 

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


 

 0 0 0 0 ... 1 −1 0 0 . . . 0 0 0 ... 0 

A=
 0 0 0 0 ... 0 0 1 0 ... 0 0 0 ... 0 


 0 0 0 0 ... 0 0 0 1 ... 0 0 0 ... 0 

 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . .. .. .. .. .. 

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


0 0 0 0 ... 0 0 0 0 ... 1 0 0 ... 0
 
 
0 0 0 0 ... 0 0 0 0 ... 0 1 0 ... 0

is a n × (m − k)-matrix that defines a linear mapping ϕ where

¢T
ϕ(y) = 〈e 1 − e 2 , y〉, 〈e 3 − e 4 , y〉, . . . , 〈e 2k−1 − e 2k , y〉, 〈e 2k+1 , y〉, . . . , 〈e n , y〉 .
¡

Hence W ⊥ = kerϕ and dimV = dim(Imϕ)+dimW ⊥ . We have that Imϕ is the

column space of A and since the dimension of the column space equals the
dimension of the row space we have that dimV = dimW + dimW ⊥ . Since
e 1 + e 2 , e 3 + e 4 , . . . e 2k−1 + e 2k , e m+1 , e m+2 , . . . , e n ∈ W ⊥ and these n − (m − k)
vectors are linearly independent we get that the set is a basis of W ⊥

In characteristic 2 we have that W and W ⊥ can have a non-empty inter-

section. This is not a problem and the lemma above holds anyway.

Example 3.1.16. (i) Let Q be the quiver

a1 a2

q
D◦

a3

and I = 〈a 12 , a 22 , a 32 , a 1 a 2 − a 2 a 1 , a 1 a 3 , a 3 a 1 〉. Then

I ⊥ = 〈a 1 a 2 + a 2 a 1 , a 2 a 3 , a 3 a 2 〉.

(ii) Let Q be the quiver

a1
( a3
/◦
◦h ◦
a2

and let I = 〈a 1 a 2 〉. Then I ⊥ = 〈a 2 a 1 , a 1 a 3 〉.

26
 (iii) Let Q be the quiver
a1 a2

q /◦
D◦ a4

a3

and let I = 〈a 12 , a 22 , a 32 , a 1 a 2 − a 2 a 1 , a 2 a 3 − a 3 a 2 , a 1 a 3 , a 3 a 1 , a 2 a 4 〉. Then

I ⊥ = 〈a 1 a 2 + a 2 a 1 , a 2 a 3 + a 3 a 2 , a 1 a 4 , a 3 a 4 〉.

Note that if I is a commutativity ideal, then I ⊥ is an anti-commutativity

ideal. With information of both I and I ⊥ we can recover the quiver Q, since
the minimal generating set of I and I ⊥ together list all possible paths of
length 2 in Q.

Proposition 3.1.17. Any non-zero path ab of length 2 in K Q is represented

in the generator graphs ΓI or ΓI ⊥ by exactly one of the following:

(i) Two undirected edges a — b, one in ΓI and one in ΓI ⊥

(ii) A directed edge a → b in ΓI

(iii) A directed edge a → b in ΓI ⊥ .

Proof. If ab is a non-zero path, then, since ab is a basis element in K Q 2 .

By Lemma 3.1.15 we have that either ab ∈ I or ab ∈ I ⊥ or there exist (anti-)
commutativity relations in the ideals I and I ⊥ . The definition of ΓI tells us
how to represent these three cases and we get the result in the proposition.

Lemma 3.1.18. If I is an admissible, commutativity ideal, then I contains all

non-zero squares in K Q and I ⊥ is a square-free anti-commutativity ideal.

Proof. Assume that I is admissible, but does not contain a 2 6= 0. Then, by

Corollary 3.1.6, it will not contain a n for any n and hence we get a contra-
diction to the assumption that I was admissible. Hence an admissible ideal
I always has to contain all non-zero squares and hence I ⊥ will be square-
free.

Lemma 3.1.19. Let I be a commutativity ideal.

(i) If a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∈ I we have that a i a i +1 ∉ I ⊥ for some i .

(ii) If a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∉ I and a i a i +1 ∉ I ⊥ , then a 1 a 2 . . . a i −1 a i +1 a i a i +2 . . . a n ∉ I .

(iii) If a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∉ I , then for any 1 ≤ i ≤ n − 1 there exists an edge (directed

or undirected) a i a i +1 in ΓI ⊥ .

27
Proof. (i) By Lemma 3.1.4 we have that a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∼ pa k a l q for some
a k a l ∈ I and some paths p and q. Either a 1 a 2 . . . a n = pa k a l q and
then there exist a pair a i a i +1 = a k a l ∈ I which by Lemma 3.1.15 im-
plies a i a i +1 ∉ I ⊥ , or there exist an allowed transposition (a i a i +1 ). An
allowed transposition corresponds to a commutativity relation in I ,
and a i a i +1 − a i +1 a i ∈ I gives a i a i +1 + a i +1 a i ∈ I ⊥ , which implies that
a i a i +1 ∉ I ⊥ .

(ii) Assume a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∉ I , then for all 1 ≤ i ≤ n − 1 we have that a i a i +1 ∉

I . We also assume a i a i +1 6= 0, and hence, by Proposition 3.1.17 we
have that a i a i +1 correspond to either a directed edge a i → a i +1 in ΓI ⊥ ,
which would imply that a i a i +1 ∈ I ⊥ , or undirected edges in both ΓI
and ΓI ⊥ . By assumption a i a i +1 ∉ I ⊥ , hence a i a i +1 − a i +1 a i ∈ I , i.e. we
have an allowed transposition (a i a i +1 ) and

a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∼ a 1 a 2 . . . a i −1 a i +1 a i a i +2 . . . a n .

Hence a 1 a 2 . . . a i −1 a i +1 a i a i +2 . . . a n ∉ I .

(iii) If a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∉ I we have that a i a i +1 ∉ I for all 1 ≤ i ≤ n − 1. By Propo-

sition 3.1.17 this implies that we either have a directed edge a i → a i +1
or an undirected edge a i — a i +1 in ΓI ⊥ .

Lemma 3.1.20. If a i a j is represented by an undirected edge in ΓI , then a i

and a j are loops at the same vertex. For any pair of loops a i and a j at the
same vertex both a i a j and a j a i have to be represented by edges in ΓI and/or
ΓI ⊥

Proof. If a i a j is represented by an undirected edge we have that a i a j −

a j a i ∈ I and by Corollary 2.1.14 we have that a i and a j are loops at the same
vertex.
If a i and a j are loops at the same vertex, then a i a j and a j a i are never
trivially 0 and hence, by Proposition 3.1.17, we have that a i a j is represented
by a directed edge in either ΓI or ΓI ⊥ or undirected edges in both.

Lemma 3.1.21. Let I be an admissible commutativity ideal. Assume that

a 1 a 2 . . . a n a 1 is a path not contained in I such that a i 6= a j for i 6= j . Then
there exists a path a 1 a i a i +1 . . . a k a 1 ∉ I such that a i a i +1 . . . a k is a subpath of
a 1 a 2 . . . a n a 1 , a 1 a i ∈ I ⊥ and a k a 1 ∈ I ⊥ .

Proof. Assume a 1 a j ∉ I ⊥ for all 1 ≤ j ≤ n. Let p n = a 1 a 2 . . . a n a 1 . Then,

by Lemma 3.1.19(iii), we would have an allowed transposition (a 1 a 2 ) and
hence p n is equivalent to a 2 a 1 a 3 a 4 . . . a n a 1 . By Lemma 3.1.19(iii) we then

28
have an edge a 1 a 3 and since we assume that there is no directed edge from
a 1 we get that (a 1 a 3 ) is an allowed transposition. Inductively we get that
(a 1 a i ) are allowed transpositions for all 2 ≤ i ≤ n and hence p n ∼ a 2 a 3 . . . a n a 12 .
By Lemma 3.1.18 we have that a 12 ∈ I and hence p n ∈ I and we have a con-
tradiction. Hence there exist an a i such that a 1 a i ∈ I ⊥ . Assume that i is as
small as possible, i.e. a 1 a m ∉ I ⊥ for m < i . Then

a 1 a 2 . . . a k ∼ a 2 a 3 . . . a i −1 a 1 a i a i +1 . . . a n a 1 ,

which implies that a 1 a i a i +1 . . . a n a 1 ∉ I .

Now assume that a j a 1 ∉ I ⊥ for every 1 ≤ j ≤ n. By the same inductive
argument as above, get that (a j a 1 ) are allowed transpositions all 1 < j < n.
This gives a contradiction since a 1 a i ∈ I ⊥ and by Lemma 3.1.15 this im-
plies that a 1 a i − a i a 1 ∉ I 2 . Hence there exist an a k such that a k a 1 ∈ I ⊥ .
By assumption above (a 1 a m ) are allowed transpositions for m < i , hence
k ≥ i . Assume that k is as big as possible, i.e. a j a 1 ∉ I ⊥ for j > k. Then
a 1 a i a i +1 . . . a n a 1 ∼ a 1 a i a i +1 . . . a k a 1 a k+1 a k+2 . . . a n and hence we have that
a 1 a i a i +1 . . . a k a 1 ∉ I .

Proposition 3.1.22. Let a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∉ I . If

a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∼ a 1 a 2 . . . a i −1 a i +1 a i a i +2 a i +3 . . . a n

then there exist edges (directed or undirected) a i −1 a i +1 and a i a i +2 in ΓI ⊥ .

Proof. Assume

a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∼ a 1 a 2 . . . a i −1 a i +1 a i a i +2 a i +3 . . . a n .

Then we have an allowed transposition (a i a i +1 ) which implies that a i a i +1 −

a i +1 a i ∈ I . By Corollary 2.1.14 this gives that a i and a i +1 are loops. By
Lemma 3.1.20 we have that there exist edges a i −1 a i +1 and a i a i +2 in either
ΓI ⊥ or ΓI . Since we assumed that a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∉ I we get that the edges have to
lie in ΓI ⊥ .

It might be good to visualize what this proposition acctually tells us. As-
sume that a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∉ I . Then, by Lemma 3.1.19(iii) we have that there exist
edges a i a i +1 in the generator graph ΓI ⊥ , they can be either directed or undi-
rected depending on the generators of I , but for example it might look like
this:
a1 / a2 a3 a4 / ... / an .

Now, what Proposition 3.1.22 says is that whenever we have an undirected

edge a i a i +1 , we also have edges a i −1 a i +1 and a i a i +2 . Since the edge a 2 a 3 is
undirected in the graph above we get two more edges
d _ Z V Q
/ m h / ... / an .
a1 Q a2 a3 a4
V Z _ d h m

29
These edges can be either directed or undirected, depending on the ideal
I . For example if a 1 a 3 directed and a 2 a 4 undirected we get the following
picture
a1 / a2 6 a3 a4 / ... / an .

We can use these new edges to construct more paths that are not contained
in I , as seen in the following corollary.

Corollary 3.1.23. Let a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∉ I be a path and let a i a i +1 be an undirected

edge in the generator graph ΓI ⊥ . Then

a 1 a 2 . . . a i −1 a i +1 a i +2 . . . a n ∉ I .

Proof. If there exists an edge a j a k in ΓI ⊥ then we have that a j a k ∉ I . By

Lemma 3.1.19(iii) we have edges a j a j +1 for any 1 ≤ j ≤ n − 1 in ΓI ⊥ and by
Proposition 3.1.22 we have that there exists an edge a i −1 a i +1 in ΓI ⊥ . Hence
a 1 a 2 . . . a i −1 a i +1 a i +2 . . . a n ∉ I .

Definition 3.1.24. If a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∼ a 1 a 2 . . . a i −1 a i +1 a i a i +2 a i +3 . . . a n we say

that there exist a shortcut a i −1 a i +1 in the generator graph ΓI ⊥ .

The following theorem now gives us a way to determine if a commuta-

tivity (or anti-commutativity) ideal I is admissible by just a quick look at the
generator graph for the orthogonal ideal I ⊥ .

Theorem 3.1.25. A commutativity (or anti-commutativity) ideal, I , is ad-

missible if and only if the generator graph, ΓI ⊥ , corresponding to the orthog-
onal ideal I ⊥ , does not contain any directed cycle.

Proof. An ideal fails to be admissible if for any n there is at least one path,
p n , of length n such that p n ∉ I . It follows from Lemma 3.1.15 that directed
edges in ΓI ⊥ correspond to paths of length 2 not contained in I . A path,
a 1 a 2 . . . a n built from generators a i a i +1 ∈ I ⊥ is clearly not contained in I (by
Lemma 3.1.19(i)). If ΓI ⊥ contains a directed cycle we hence can construct
paths of arbitrary length that are not contained in I .
Assume that for any n ≥ 1 we are able to find a path, p n ∉ I , of length
n. Suppose n > |Q 1 |, then there exist an arrow a 1 such that a 1 repeats in p n .
Let a 1 be the first arrow that repeats and let p k be the part of p n that starts
with the first copy of a 1 and ends with the second a k = a 1 . By Lemma 3.1.21
there exist a path p = a 1 a 2 . . . a k a 1 ∉ I such that a 2 a 3 . . . a k is a subpath of
p n , a 1 a 2 ∈ I ⊥ and a k a 1 ∈ I ⊥ .
We will prove the existence of a directed cycle in ΓI ⊥ by induction over
the length of p. If l(p) = 4, then p = a 1 a 2 a 3 a 1 with a 1 a 2 ∈ I ⊥ and a 3 a 1 ∈
I ⊥ . If a 2 a 3 ∈ I ⊥ we obviously have a directed cycle in ΓI ⊥ . Hence assume

30
that a 2 a 3 is an undirected edge. Then p ∼ a 1 a 3 a 2 a 1 and by Lemma 3.1.19
(iii) we have that there exist an edge a 1 a 3 in ΓI ⊥ . By Proposition 3.1.17 this
edge can’t be undirected and hence we have a directed shortcut past the
undirected edge a 2 a 3 that gives a directed cycle in ΓI ⊥ .
Assume that if l(p) < k then we can find a directed shortcut past any
undirected edge. Note that a sequence of directed shortcuts in a path im-
plies a directed cycle in ΓI ⊥ .
Assume p = a 1 a 2 . . . a k , where a k = a 1 , a 1 a 2 ∈ I ⊥ and a k−1 a 1 ∈ I ⊥ . As-
sume that a i a i +1 is a pair in p that correspond to an undirected edge in ΓI ⊥ .
By Corollary 3.1.23 we then have that a 1 a 2 . . . a i −1 a i +1 a i +2 . . . a k−1 a 1 ∉ I is a
shorter path where we by our assumption can find directed shortcuts past
any undirected edge. Hence ΓI ⊥ contains a directed cycle.

Example 3.1.26. (i) Consider the quiver and ideal in Example 3.1.16 (i).
The generator graph ΓI ⊥ of the orthogonal ideal is then

a1 aF 2


a3

By using the information in ΓI ⊥ we can construct the path a 2 a 3 a 2 a 3 . . .

of arbitrary length not contained in I . Hence I is not admissible, since
we have a directed cycle.

(ii) Consider the quiver and ideal in Example 3.1.16 (ii). The generator
graph ΓI ⊥
a 1 Bo a2
BB
BB
BB
B!
a3

The generator graph does not contain any directed cycles and hence
we can conclude that I is admissible.

(iii) Consider the quiver and ideal in Example 3.1.16 (iii). The generator
graph ΓI ⊥ for this Q
a1 B a2
BB ||
BB||
|| BB
|| B!
a3 / a4

31
 This graph does not contain any directed cycles, and hence I is ad-
missible.

3.2 Centra of partly (anti-)commutative quiver algebras

In the rest of this thesis we let a i denote the arrow a i ∈ Q 1 , the element a i ∈
K Q and of course also the corresponding element a i ∈ K Q/I . Furthermore
p i will denote both paths in the quiver Q and the corresponding monomial
p i ∈ K Q/I .
The center of a graded algebra is also a graded algebra. The identity ele-
ment always lies in the center of an algebra and for quiver algebras we have
P
that the identity element is a sum of the vertices in the quiver xi ∈Q 0 x i . If
|Q 0 | > 1 and the quiver is connected we have that no vertex lies in the cen-
ter, since for any arrow a such that o(a) 6= t(a) = x we have that xa = 0 and
ax = a. Hence Z 0 (K Q/I ) = K for all quiver algebras.

Definition 3.2.1. Let the positively graded part of the center be denoted by
Z + (K Q/I ), i.e. M i
Z + (K Q/I ) = Z (K Q/I ).
i ≥1

We have that Z (K Q/I ) = Z (K Q/I ) Z + (K Q/I ), and Z 0 (K Q/I ) = K for

0 L

all quiver algebras K Q/I , hence the rest of this section is devoted to describ-
ing Z + (K Q/I ).
We have seen several ways to decompose K Q/I as a vector space, and in
this chapter we need one more.

Definition 3.2.2. Let p be a non-zero monomial in K Q of length at least

1. Let Vp be the vector subspace generated by the monomials consisting
of permutations of the arrows of p (many of them can be 0 for trivial rea-
sons or because they lie in I ). A linear combination of elements belonging
to the same Vp is said to be permutation homogeneous. An ideal generated
by permutation homogeneous elements is a permutation homogeneous
ideal.

If we pick representatives p for each permutation homogeneous set we

can easily see that each monomial of positive grade lies in a specific Vp , i.e.
L
K Q = K ⊕ p Vp . Note that both commutativity ideals and anti-commutativity
ideals are permutation homogeneous ideals.

Lemma 3.2.3. Let I be a permutation homogeneous ideal. Then

K Q/I ∼
M
=K ⊕ Vp /(I ∩ Vp ).
p

32
 L
Proof. If I is permutation homogeneous it is clear that I = p I ∩ Vp as a
sum of vector spaces. Hence K Q/I ∼
L
= K ⊕ p Vp /(I ∩ Vp ).

Lemma 3.2.4. Let I be a permutation homogeneous ideal. The positively

graded part of center, Z + (K Q/I ), of K Q/I is spanned by permutation homo-
geneous elements.

Proof. Assume σ ∈ Z + (K Q/I ). Then σ = ρ 1 + ρ 2 + . . . ρ n where each ρ i ∈

Vp i /(I ∩ Vp i ). Since σ ∈ Z + (K Q/I ) for any a we have

aρ 1 + aρ 2 + · · · + aρ n = ρ 1 a + ρ 2 a + · · · + ρ n a.

Since the sum is direct, we have that aρ k = ρ k a for all 1 ≤ k ≤ n. Hence the
center has to be a permutation homogeneous ideal.

Lemma 3.2.5. Let I be a (anti-)commutativity ideal. The positively graded

part of center of K Q/I is spanned by linear combinations of cycles.

Proof. Assume i αi p i ∈ Z + (K Q/I ) and that all p i are linearly independent

P

in the vector space K Q/I . Let p 1 = a 1 a 2 . . . a n . We shall now show that p 1

is a cycle. Assume that for any pair p i , p j in the sum, we have that p i 6= p j ,
hence we have no cancellations in the sum. We have that

αi p i = αi p i 6= 0
X X
o(p 1 )
i o(p i )=o(p 1 )

since, at least, o(p 1 )p 1 = p 1 6= 0. Hence

αi p i o(p 1 ) = αi p i 6= 0
X X
i t(p i )=o(p 1 )

and hence p 1 o(p 1 ) is non-zero, i.e. o(p 1 ) = t(p 1 ).

Lemma 3.2.6. Let I be a square-free (anti-)commutativity ideal, i.e. a (anti-

)commutativity ideal that doesn’t contain any non-zero monomials of the
form a i2 . Then the positively graded part of the center of K Q/I is spanned
by non-zero monomials a 1 a 2 . . . a n of loops at the same basepoint such that
(a i a j ) is an allowed transposition for any pair a i , a j in the monomial.

Proof. Assume i αi p i ∈ Z + (K Q/I ) is a permutation homogeneous sum,

P

where the p i are distinct cycles.

We have that
a αi p i = αi p i a
X X
i i

33
for all arrows a ∈ Q 1 .
Assume p i = a 1 a 2 . . . a n . We will prove that p i ∼ p j for all p j in the sum
by induction over the number of copies of the arrow a in p i . We will start by
proving that (a 1 a i ) are allowed transpositions for all 1 ≤ i ≤ n and then we
will show that (a i a j ) are allowed transpositions for all 1 ≤ i , j ≤ n.
Assume a = a 1 . We assume that I is square-free, and hence, by Corollary
3.1.6 ap i 6= 0. Hence there exists a p j in the permutation homogeneous sum
of cycles such that ap i = p j a. Let b k denote the arrows that p j consists of,
i.e. p j = b 1 b 2 . . . b n , where for all 1 ≤ k ≤ n there exists exactly one 1 ≤ l ≤ n
such that b k = a l .
We start with the base case for the induction. Assume that there is only
one copy of a 1 in the path. We have that a 1 p i = p j a 1 . Since both copies of
a 1 is in the left end of the monomial on the left hand side we have that (a 1 a i )
is an allowed transposition for any a i ∈ {a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n }.
Assume that if a 1 p i = p j a 1 and the number of copies of a 1 in p i are k −1
or less, we have that (a 1 a i ) are allowed transpositions for all 1 ≤ i ≤ k.
Assume that there are k copies of a 1 in p i . Since a 1 p i = p j a 1 we either
have that a n = a 1 or there exists an allowed transposition (a 1 a n ).

1. If a n = a 1 , by Lemma 3.1.8, we have that a 1 a 1 a 2 a 3 . . . a n−1 = p j . Now

either b 1 = a 1 or (b 1 a 1 ) is an allowed transposition.

• If b 1 = a 1 then we get a 1 a 2 a 3 . . . a n−1 = b 2 b 3 . . . b n , paths with k−1

copies of a 1 , for which a 1 q 1 = q 2 a 1 , i.e. (a 1 a i ) are allowed trans-
positions for any 1 ≤ i ≤ n − 1 by induction.
• Assume (b 1 a 1 ) is an allowed transposition. Since we have al-
lowed transpositions to rewrite p j to a 1 a 1 a 2 a 3 . . . a n−1 . Then ei-
ther b 2 = a 1 or (b 2 a 1 ) is an allowed transposition. By assumtion
there are k copies of a 1 in the path p j , hence we will eventually
reach a b k = a 1 . Hence p j ∼ b k b 1 b 2 . . . b k−1 b k+1 b k+2 . . . b n and
we have that a 1 a 2 a 3 . . . a n−1 ∼ b 1 b 2 . . . b k−1 b k+1 b k+2 . . . b n paths
with k − 1 copies of a 1 for which a 1 q 1 = q 2 a 1 , i.e. (a 1 a i ) are al-
lowed transpositions for any 1 ≤ i ≤ n − 1 by induction.

2. If a n 6= a 1 we have an allowed transposition (a 1 a n ). Now either a n−1 =

a 1 or (a 1 a n−1 ) is an allowed transposition. We eventually find a a l =
a 1 and get that a 1 a 1 a 2 a 3 . . . a l −1 a l +1 a l +2 . . . a n ∼ p j . Using the same
technique as above we get that

a 1 a 2 a 3 . . . a l −1 a l +1 a l +2 . . . a n ∼ b 1 b 2 . . . b k−1 b k+1 b k+2 . . . b n

paths with k − 1 copies of a 1 for which a 1 q 1 = q 2 a 1 .

34
 We conclude that (a 1 a i ) are allowed transpositions for all 1 ≤ i ≤ n.
Hence a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∼ a 2 a 1 a 3 a 4 . . . a n . We have that I is square-free, hence
a 2 a 2 a 1 a 3 a 4 . . . a n 6= 0 and using the same arguments as for a 1 we get that
(a 2 a i ) are allowed transpositions for all 1 ≤ i ≤ n. Continuing in the same
way we get that (a i a j ) are allowed transpositions for any pair 1 ≤ i , j ≤ n
and hence p i = p j for all p i , p j in the sum. We conclude that the centre is
spanned by monomials.

Theorem 3.2.7. Let I be a square-free commutativity ideal. The positively

graded part of the center of K Q/I has a basis given by all non-zero products
a 1 a 2 . . . a k , of loops with the same basepoint, such that

1. All a i commute non-trivially modulo I : a i a j = a j a i 6= 0 for all i and j .

2. For all arrows b in the quiver, one of the following two options holds:

• b commutes with all a i .

• There exist i and j such that a i b = 0 = ba j .

Proof. We begin with proving that all such elements lie in the center. Let
p = a 1 a 2 . . . a n be a monomial of the type described in the theorem and let b
be an arrow such that b does not commute with all a l . Since all the arrows
in p commute a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∼ a j a 1 a 2 . . . a j −1 a j +1 . . . a n . Hence ba j = 0 implies
bp = 0. In the same way a i b = 0 implies pb = 0.
By Lemma 3.2.6 we have that the center is generated by monomials of
loops where all arrows commute non-trivially.
Let p = a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∈ Z + (K Q/I ) be a monomial such that a i a j = a j a i 6= 0
for all 1 ≤ i , j ≤ n. Assume b ∈ Q 1 \ {a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n } and bp = pb. We have four
cases:

1. Assume o(b) = t(b) = o(p). Then either bp ∼ pb, which implies that b
commutes with all a i in the monomial, or bp ∈ I and pb ∈ I . Since I
is a quadratic ideal, b ∉ I and by assumption p ∉ I . Hence if bp = 0
by Lemma 3.1.4 we get that there exists an a i in the monomial such
that ba i = 0. In the same way we get that there exists an a j in the
monomial such that a j b = 0.

2. Assume o(b) = o(p) and t(b) 6= o(p). Then bp = 0 trivially and hence
ba i = 0 for all a i in the path. As above there exists a a j in the mono-
mial such that a j b = 0.

3. Assume o(b) 6= o(p) and t(b) = o(p). Analogous to case 2 we get that
there exists an a i in the monomial such that ba i = 0 and a j b = 0 for
all a j in the monomial.

35
 4. Assume o(b) 6= o(p) and t(b) 6= o(p). Then ba i = a i b = 0 for all a i in the
monomial.

That the set of monomials fulfilling these conditions is a basis is seen by

realizing that if p, q ∈ Vp and p, q ∈ Z + (K Q/I ), then p = q and hence there is
at most one monomial from each permutation homogeneous subspace Vp
in Z + (K Q/I ) and since K Q/I ∼
L
= K ⊕ p Vp /(I ∩ Vp ) we get that these form a
basis for Z + (K Q/I ).

To prove the anti-commutative version of Theorem 3.2.7 we need the

following lemma.

Lemma 3.2.8. Let I be a square-free anti-commutativity ideal. Assume that

a 1 a 2 . . . a n 6= 0. If
ai a1 a2 . . . an = a1 a2 . . . an ai
for every a i in the monomial, then if n is even, there are an even number of
copies of every a i in the monomial and if n is odd, there are an odd number
of copies of every a i in the monomial.

Proof. If ba 1 a 2 . . . a n = a 1 a 2 . . . a n b, then by Lemma 3.1.9 we need an even

number of transpositions to obtain a 1 a 2 . . . a n b from ba 1 a 2 . . . a n . If n is
even we need an even number of copies (or no copy) of b in the monomial
a 1 a 2 . . . a n , since an even number of copies gives an even number of trans-
positions. If n is odd the number of copies of b must be odd in order to get
an even number of transpositions.

Theorem 3.2.9. Let I be a square-free anti-commutativity ideal. The pos-

itively graded part of the center of K Q/I has a basis given by all non-zero
products a 1 a 2 . . . a k such that

1. If k is even:

• The monomial contains an even number of each arrow, a i .

• For all arrows a i , a j in the monomial a i a j = −a j a i 6= 0.
• For all arrows b in the quiver, one of the following two options
holds:
– b anti-commutes non-trivially with all a i , i.e. ba i = −a i b 6=
0.
– There exist i and j such that a i b = 0 = ba j .

2. If k is odd:

• The monomial contains an odd number of each arrow, a i .

36
 • For all arrows a i , a j in the monomial a i a j = −a j a i 6= 0.
• For all other arrows b, there exist i and j such that a i b = 0 = ba j .

Proof. Assume that p = a 1 a 2 . . . a 2n fulfills the conditions listed in item 1

above. Then bp = pb for all b ∈ Q 1 and hence it follows that p ∈ Z + (K Q/I ).
Assume p = a 1 a 2 . . . a 2n ∈ Z + (K Q/I ). Then a i a 1 a 2 . . . a 2n = a 1 a 2 . . . a 2n a i
for all a i ∈ {a 1 , a 2 , . . . a 2n } and by Lemma 3.2.8 we have that p contains an
even number of copies of every a i . Assume b ∉ {a 1 , a 2 , . . . a 2n }. Since p ∈
Z + (K Q/I ) we have that bp = pb. Assume bp 6= 0, then

ba 1 a 2 . . . a 2n = a 1 a 2 . . . a 2n b

and hence (a i b) has to be an allowed transposition for any a i in the mono-

mial p and since the length of the monomial p is even bp = pb. Assume
bp = 0, then, by analogous arguments as in the proof of Theorem 3.2.7 we
get that there exist a i and a j such that a i b = ba j = 0.
Assume p = a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∈ Z + (K Q/I ), where n is odd. By Lemma 3.2.8
we have that p contains an odd number of copies of every a i . Assume b ∉
{a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n }. Then bp = pb implies that bp = pb = 0, since the number of
transpositions needed to rewrite ba 1 a 2 . . . a n to a 1 a 2 . . . a n b is odd. By anal-
ogous arguments as in the proof of Theorem 3.2.7 we get that there exist a i
and a j such that a i b = ba j = 0.
That it is a basis follows from the fact that there is at most one monomial
from each permutation homogeneous subspace Vp in Z + (K Q/I ) and since
K Q/I ∼ = K ⊕ p Vp /(I ∩ Vp ) we get that these form a basis for Z + (K Q/I ).
L

3.3 The ring structure of the center

The center of a partly (anti-)commutative quiver algebra, Z (K Q/I ), is a com-
mutative ring. Theorem 3.2.7 (and Theorem 3.2.9) tells us a lot of the ring
structure of Z (K Q/I ). We can note that if p, q ∈ Z (K Q/I ) are monomials
and pq 6= 0, then, since pq ∈ Z (K Q/I ) we have that all arrows in p commute
with all arrows in q. Hence any monomial in Z (K Q/I ) is uniquiely deter-
mined by the number of copies of each arrow (if I is an anti-commutativity
ideal it is only determined up to sign). This means that any monomial,
k k k
a 1 1 a 2 2 . . . a nn ∈ Z (K Q/I ) is represented by a vector (k 1 , k 2 , . . . , k n ) and if we
let a 1 > a 2 > · · · > a k be an ordering of the arrows in Q we can order all
monomials in Z (K Q/I ) lexicographically by the corresponding vectors.

Proposition 3.3.1. Let I be a square-free commutativity ideal. Then Z (K Q/I )

does not contain any nilpotent elements.

37
Proof. Assume ni=1 αi p i ∈ Z (K Q/I ), where one of the p i s can be of degree
P

0. By Theorem 3.2.7 we have that p i ∈ Z (K Q/I ) for all 1 ≤ i ≤ n. Assume

p i 6= p j for all i 6= j , i.e. for any permutation homogeneous subspace Vp
there is at most one p i in the sum such that p i ∈ Vp . By Theorem 3.2.7 we
have that p m = a 1m a 2m . . . a nm and since I is square-free we have that p im 6= 0
for all 1 ≤ i ≤ n and all m ≥ 1.
Order the monomials in K Q/I as described above. Let p 1 be the leading
term in ni=1 αi p i ∈ Z (K Q/I ). Since p 1m 6= 0 we have that p 1m will be the
P
³P ´m
n
leading term in α p
i =1 i i . We have that p 1m ∈ Vp 1m , and since p 1m >lex
³P ´m
n
p i 1 p i 2 . . . p i m for all other terms in α p
i =1 i i , we have that p 1m is the only
path that lie in Vp 1m . This means that no other term in the product can cancel
p 1m and hence

n
³X ´m
αi p i = αm m
1 p 1 + other terms 6= 0.
i =1

By an analogous proof we get the same result when I is a square-free

anti-commutativity ideal.

Proposition 3.3.2. Let I be a square-free anti-commutativity ideal. Then

Z (K Q/I ) does not contain any nilpotent elements.

In some cases we can say even more about the ring structure of the cen-
ter. If I is a square-free commutativity ideal, then the positively graded part
of the center is spanned by monomials a 1 a 2 . . . a n such that a i a j = a j a i 6= 0
for all 1 ≤ i , j ≤ n and for any other arrow b either ba i = a i b 6= 0 or we have
that
ba 1 a 2 . . . a n = a 1 a 2 . . . a n b = 0.

Hence we can construct subsets of the arrows in Q 1 that commute modulo

I and monomials consisting of such arrows.
Let M be a set of arrows of Q such that ab = ba 6= 0 for all a, b ∈ M .
Let S be the set of all monomials in K Q/I formed from M . We call the sets
S 1 , S 2 , . . . S k the commutating blocks of K Q/I . Note that these sets S 1 , S 2 , . . . , S k
don’t have to be disjoint, since commutativity is not a transitive property in
partly commutative quiver algebras. One can also find these blocks from the
generator graph ΓI by first removing all the directed edges and then con-
sidering the cliques in the remaining graph. The cliques correspond to the
commutating blocks and the maximal cliques correspond to the maximal
commutating blocks.

38
Example 3.3.3. Let Q be the following quiver

a1 a2

q /◦
D◦ a4

a3

Let I = 〈a 1 a 2 − a 2 a 1 , a 2 a 3 − a 3 a 2 , a 1 a 4 , a 3 a 4 〉. Then the maximal commutat-

ing blocks are:
S 1 = {a 1 , a 2 , a 12 , a 1 a 2 , a 22 , a 13 . . . }

and
S 2 = {a 2 , a 3 , a 22 , a 2 a 3 , a 32 , a 23 , . . . }.

The monomials in S 1 that lie in Z (K Q/I ) is of the form a 1k a 2l , where k ≥ 1 and

l ≥ 0. The monomials in S 2 that lie in Z (K Q/I ) is of the form a 2k a 3l , where
k ≥ 0 and l ≥ 1. Note that no power of a 2 lies in Z (K Q/I ), since a 2 does not
commute with a 4 .

Lemma 3.3.4. Assume p, q ∈ Z (K Q/I ) are monomials. Then pq 6= 0 if and

only if p and q belongs to the same commutating block.

Proof. Let p = a 1 a 2 . . . a n and q = b 1 b 2 . . . b m . Then by Theorem 3.2.7 we

have that either pq = q p = 0, which implies that there exist arrows a i , a k
and b j , b l in the monomials such that a i b j = 0 and b l a k = 0, or we have that
a i b j = b j a i 6= 0 for all 1 ≤ i ≤ n and all 1 ≤ j ≤ m. Hence, if pq 6= 0 we have
that p and q belongs to the same commutating block.

Proposition 3.3.5. Let I be a square-free commutativity ideal. Assume that

K Q/I contains only one maximal commutating block, i.e. commutativity is a
transitive relation in K Q/I . Then Z (K Q/I ) is an integral domain. Conversely,
if Z (K Q/I ) is an integral domain, then K Q/I contains only one commutating
block.

Proof. Let ni=1 αi p i ∈ Z (K Q/I ) and m i =1 γi q i ∈ Z (K Q/I ), where we allow

P P

p i = 1 and q j = 1 for at most one 1 ≤ i ≤ n and 1 ≤ j ≤ m. By Theorem

3.2.7, since p i , q i ∈ Z (K Q/I ) for all i we have that any p i and q i consists
of products of some of the arrows a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a k in the commutating block
since all non-zero elements in the center are paths of loops that commutes
pairwise. Assume that there is at most one p i and at most one q i in each
permutation homogeneous subspace Vp .
Let S be the commutating block generated by {a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a l } be the only
commutating block in K Q/I . Any p ∈ S is uniquely determined by the num-
ber of copies of each a i in p. By Lemma 3.3.4 we have that pq 6= 0 for all

39
p, q ∈ S. Hence we can use the lexicographical order on the monomials in S
and let a 1 > a 2 > · · · > a n . This defines a total order on the set S. With respect
to this order we get a leading term in any linear combination of monomials
in S.
³X n m
´³ X ´ X n Xm
αi p i γi q i = αi γ j p i q j .
i =1 i =1 i =1 j =1

Let p 1 be the leading term in the linear combination ni=1 αi p i and q 1 the
P
Pm
leading term in i =1 γi q i . Since K is a field, we know that all coefficients are
non-zero in ni=1 m j =1 αi γ j p i q j . Now p 1 q 1 will be the new leading term in
P P

the product and hence all other p i q j <lex p 1 q 1 . We have that p 1 q 1 will be
the only term in Vp 1 q1 and hence
n
³X m
´³ X ´
αi p i γi q i =6 0
i =1 i =1
¡ Pn ¢ ¡ Pm
i =1 αi p i , i =1 γi q i ∈ Z (K Q/I ).
¢
for all
Assume that Z (K Q/I ) is an integral domain. Then if p, q ∈ Z (K Q/I ) are
monomials we have that pq = q p 6= 0, i.e. p and q belongs to the same
commutating block for any pair of monimials in Z (K Q/I ). Hence we have
only one maximal commutating block in K Q/I .

We make an analogous construction for partly anti-commutative quiver

algebras.

Definition 3.3.6. Let I be a square-free anti-commutativity ideal. Let S

be the subset of Q 1 consisting of the set of arrows {a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n } such that
a i a j = −a j a i 6= 0 for all 1 ≤ i , j ≤ n and all monomials consisting of those
arrows. We call the sets S 1 , S 2 , . . . S k the anti-commutating blocks of K Q/I .

These sets S 1 , S 2 , . . . , S k don’t have to be disjoint, since commutativity is

not a transitive property in partly anti-commutative quiver algebras. Just
as in the commutativity case we have that the maximal anti-commutating
blocks correspond to the maximal cliques in the graph obtained by remov-
ing the directed edges in the generator graph.

Lemma 3.3.7. Assume p, q ∈ Z (K Q/I ) are monomials. Then pq 6= 0 if and

only if p and q belongs to the same anti-commutating block.

Proof. Let p = a 1 a 2 . . . a n and q = b 1 b 2 . . . b m be monomials in Z (K Q/I ).

Then by Theorem 3.2.9 we have that either pq = q p = 0, which implies that
there exist arrows a i , a k and b j , b l in the monomials such that a i b j = 0 and
b l a k = 0, or we have that a i b j = −b j a i 6= 0 for all 1 ≤ i ≤ n and all 1 ≤ j ≤ m.
Hence, if pq 6= 0 we have that p and q belong to the same anti-commutating
block.

40
Proposition 3.3.8. Let I be a square-free anti-commutativity ideal. Assume
K Q/I contains only one anti-commutating block. Then Z (K Q/I ) is an inte-
gral domain.

Proof. Let ni=1 αi p i ∈ Z (K Q/I ) and m i =1 γi q i ∈ Z (K Q/I ) (where we allow

P P

the path of length 0 corresponding to 1 in the sums). By Theorem 3.2.9 since

p i , q i ∈ Z (K Q/I ) for all i we have that all p i and q i consists of products of
some of the arrows a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n , since all non-zero elements in the center
are paths of loops such that a i a j = −a j a i for all arrows a i , a j in the paths.
Assume that there is at most one p i and at most one q i in each permutation
homogeneous subspace Vp .
Let S be the commutating block generated by {a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n } and assume
that S is the only anti-commutating block of K Q/I . Any p ∈ S is determined
up to sign by the number of copies of each a i in p. By Lemma 3.3.7 we have
that pq 6= 0 for all p, q ∈ S. Hence we can use the lexicographical order on
the monomials in S and let a 1 > a 2 > · · · > a n . This defines a total order
on the set S. With respect to this order we get a leading term in any linear
combination of monomials in S.
³Xn m
´³ X ´ X n X m
αi p i γi q i = αi γ j p i q j .
i =1 i =1 i =1 j =1

Let p 1 be the leading term in the linear combination ni=1 αi p i and q 1 the
P
Pm
leading term in i =1 γi q i . The leading term will only be determined mod-
ulo the sign, but the sign on the coefficient doesn’t change the arrows in-
volved and the coefficient is still in the field K , regardless of its sign. Since K
is a field, we know that all coefficients are non-zero in ni=1 m j =1 αi γ j p i q j .
P P

Now p 1 q 1 will be the new leading term in the product and hence all other
p i q j <lex p 1 q 1 . Hence
n
³X m
´³ X ´
αi p i γi q i =6 0
i =1 i =1
¡ Pn ¢ ¡ Pm
i =1 αi p i , i =1 γi q i ∈ Z (K Q/I ).
¢
for all

As the positively graded part of the center consists of paths of loops it can
be decomposed into subspaces around the vertices. We make the following
definition.

Definition 3.3.9. Let Q x be the subquiver of Q consisting of the point x,

arrows a such that o(a) = x or t(a) = x and the vertices where these arrows
have their origin/target. The point x is called the basepoint of Q x . Let I x be
the ideal generated by the relations ρ in I such that the arrows in the relation
ρ lie in Q x .

41
 If I is an admissible (anti-)commutativity ideal, then I x will be an ad-
missible (anti-)commutativity ideal of K Q x . If I is square-free, I x will be
square-free.

Proposition 3.3.10. Let I be a square-free (anti-)commutativity ideal. The

positively graded parts of center is a direct product of components with x ∈ Q 0
as basepoints,
Z + (K Q/I ) =
Y +
Z (K Q x /I x ).
x∈Q 0

Proof. By Theorem 3.2.7 (and Theorem 3.2.9), we have a basis for Z + (K Q/I ).
Any element in this basis a 1 a 2 . . . a n is a product of loops with the same base-
point x, hence a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∈ K Q x . If o(b) = x and a i b ∈ I , then a i b ∈ I x and
if t(b) = x and ba j ∈ I , then ba j ∈ I x . This gives that if p ∈ Z (K Q/I ) and
o(p) = x, then p ∈ Z (K Q x /I x ). Hence any basis element in the center be-
longs to exactly one Z (K Q x /I x ). If p ∈ K Q x /I x and q ∈ K Q y /I y with x 6= y
we have that pq = q p = 0. Hence Z + (K Q/I ) = x∈Q 0 Z + (K Q x /I x ).
Q

3.4 Finitely generated centra

Lemma 3.4.1. Let I be a square-free commutativity ideal. If a k ∈ Z (K Q/I ),
then a ∈ Z (K Q/I ).

Proof. Assume a k ∈ Z (K Q/I ). Theorem 3.2.7 gives that for any other arrow
b ∈ Q 1 either ab − ba ∈ I or ab = ba = 0, i.e. a ∈ Z (K Q/I ).

Lemma 3.4.2. Let I be a square-free commutativity ideal. If the center of

K Q/I is non-trivial and finitely generated as an K -algebra, then Z + (K Q/I ) is
generated in degree 1.

Proof. Assume that the center is finitely generated and that p 1 , . . . , p n are
the generators. By Theorem 3.2.7 p 1 = a 1 . . . a m , where a i are loops such that
a i a j = a j a i 6= 0 for all 1 ≤ j ≤ m. Assume that a 1 ∉ Z (K Q/I ). Theorem 3.2.7
gives that as p 1 ∈ Z (K Q/I ) and a 1 commutes with all arrows in p 1 , we have
that a 1k p 1 ∈ Z (K Q/I ) for all k ≥ 0. Lemma 3.4.1 gives that no power of a 1 can
be a generator of Z (K Q/I ), since a 1 ∉ Z (K Q/I ). Hence we have an infinite
set of monomials, a 1k p 1 , in the center that can not be generated from the
generators {p 1 , p 2 , . . . , p n }. We get a contradiction and hence all generators
of the center have to be of degree 1.

Lemma 3.4.3. Suppose I is a commutativity ideal such that I ⊥ is admissible.

If a is a loop such that a ∈ Z (K Q/I ) then

42
 (i) for any other loop b with o(b) = o(a i ) we have that a i b = ba i 6= 0,

(ii) for every arrow c such that o(c) 6= t(c) = o(a) we have that c a = 0 and

(iii) for every arrow d such that t(d ) 6= o(d ) = o(a) we have that ad = 0.

Proof. Assume that a ∈ Z (K Q/I ). If there exists a loop b with o(b) = o(a)
such that ab − ba ∉ I 2 , then, since ab = ba and composition of two loops
at the same basepoint are never trivially 0, we have that ab ∈ I and ba ∈ I .
If ab ∈ I and ba ∈ I we have a contradiction to the assumption that I ⊥ is
admissible since ΓI will then contain a directed cycle and by Theorem 3.1.25
I ⊥ is then not admissible.
Since o(c) 6= t(a) we have that ac = 0 and hence c a = 0. Analogous argu-
ment gives that ad = 0.

We are now ready to state the necessary and sufficient conditions for
finite generation of Z (K Q/I ).

Theorem 3.4.4. Suppose I is a commutativity ideal such that I ⊥ is admissi-

ble. Then Z (K Q/I ) is finitely generated as a K -algebra if and only if for all x
in Q 0 either Z (K Q x /I x ) is trivial or

I x ⊇ 〈ab − ba, ca, ad 〉 a, b loops with basepoint x, .

c, d arrows such that o(c) 6= t(c) = x, t(d ) 6= o(d ) = x

Proof. Lemma 3.4.2 and Lemma 3.4.3 gives that if Z (K Q/I ) is finitely gen-
erated, then for every x ∈ Q 0 we either have that Z (K Q x /I x ) is trivial or all
loops with basepoint x have to fulfill the conditions in Lemma 3.4.3. This
means that for any pair of loops a, b with basepoint x we have ab − ba ∈ I 2 ,
for any loop a and any arrow c such that o(c) 6= t(c) = x we have c a ∈ I 2 and
for any arrow d such that t(d ) 6= o(d ) = x we have ad ∈ I 2 .
If I x is as described above then Z (K Q x /I x ) is finitely generated, since the
loops then fulfill the conditions in Lemma 3.4.3.

Lemma 3.4.5. Let I be a square-free anti-commutativity ideal. Assume a 2k ∈

Z (K Q/I ), then a 2 ∈ Z (K Q/I ).

Proof. Assume a 2k ∈ Z (K Q/I ). Theorem 3.2.9 gives that for any other arrow
b ∈ Q 1 either ab + ba ∈ I or ab = ba = 0, i.e. a 2 ∈ Z (K Q/I ).

Lemma 3.4.6. Let I be a square-free anti-commutativity ideal. If Z (K Q/I ) is

finitely generated as an algebra, then Z + (K Q/I ) is generated by elements of
the form a 2 .

43
Proof. Assume that Z (K Q/I ) is finitely generated and that p 1 , . . . , p n are the
generators. By Theorem 3.2.9 p 1 = a 1 . . . a m , where a i are loops such that
a i a j = −a j a i 6= 0 for all 1 ≤ j ≤ m. Assume that a 12 ∉ Z (K Q/I ). Theorem
3.2.9 gives that as p 1 ∈ Z (K Q/I ) and a 12 commutes with all arrows in p 1 , we
have that a 12k p 1 ∈ Z (K Q/I ) for all k ≥ 0. Lemma 3.4.5 gives that no power of
a 12 can be a generator of Z (K Q/I ), since a 12 ∉ Z (K Q/I ). Hence we have an in-
finite set of monomials, a 12k p 1 , in the center that can not be generated from
the generators {p 1 , p 2 , . . . , p n }. We get a contradiction and hence, if Z (K Q/I )
is finitely generated we have that a i2 have to be in Z (K Q/I ) for all a i that are
present in monomials a 1 a 2 . . . a m ∈ Z (K Q/I ).

Lemma 3.4.7. Suppose I is a anti-commutativity ideal such that I ⊥ is ad-

missible. If a is a loop such that a 2 ∈ Z (K Q/I ) then

(i) for any other loop b with o(b) = o(a i ) we have that a i b = −ba i 6= 0,

(ii) for every arrow c such that o(c) 6= t(c) = o(a) we have that c a = 0 and

(iii) for every arrow d such that t(d ) 6= o(d ) = o(a) we have that ad = 0.

Proof. Completely analogous to the proof of Lemma 3.4.3.

Theorem 3.4.8. Suppose I is an anti-commutativity ideal such that I ⊥ is ad-

missible. Then Z (K Q/I ) is finitely generated as a K -algebra if and only if for
all x in Q 0 either Z (K Q x /I x ) is trivial or

I x ⊇ 〈ab + ba, ca, ad 〉 a, b loops with basepoint x, .

c, d arrows such that o(c) 6= t(c) = x, t(d ) 6= o(d ) = x

Proof. Analogous to the proof of Theorem 3.4.4.

44
4. Projective resolutions and
Koszul algebras

The aim of this chapter is to show that some partly (anti-)commutative alge-
bras are Koszul algebras. In section 1 we will construct linear projective res-
olutions for some partly (anti-)commutative algebras. In section 2 we define
what Koszulity means for a quiver algebra and how the resolutions created
in section 1 shows the Koszulity of certain partly (anti-)commutative quiver
algebras. The chapter doesn’t provide any general algorithm for construct-
ing these resolutions, but shows that we can in some cases use the generator
graph ΓI or an extended graph called the relation graph Γrel to construct a
linear, projective resolution.

4.1 Projective resolutions of partly commutative and

partly anti-commutative quiver algebras
To simplify the notation in this chapter we define Λ := K Q/I for a quiver
algebra K Q bound by an ideal I . The graded Jacobson radical is the inter-
section of all homogeneous maximal ideal in K Q/I , which is equal to the
arrow ideal modulo I denoted by J. It might be worth to mention that the
ideals considered in this section are almost never admissible, in some cases
they are orthogonal ideals to admissible ideals but for the construction of
the resolutions this doesn’t need to be the case.

Definition 4.1.1. Let Γ be a graph with both directed and undirected edges.
A walk is a sequence of directed edges that forms a path in Γ. Let each walk
w be denoted by the sequence a 1 a 2 . . . a n of vertices that w passes. The
length, l, of a walk w is defined to be the number of vertices in the sequence
a 1 a 2 . . . a n = w minus 1, i.e. l(a 1 a 2 . . . a n ) = n−1. A walk of length 0 is a vertex
a i in ΓI .

Definition 4.1.2. Let Wn (Γ) denote the set of walks of length n in the graph
Γ.

Definition 4.1.3. Let Q be a quiver and I a (anti-)commutativity ideal. We

define the relation graph, Γrel in Q as follows:

45
 • For every arrow a ∈ Q 1 we have a vertex a ∈ Γrel .

• For every pair of arrows a, b ∈ Q 1 , such that ab = 0 ∈ K Q/I we have a

directed edge a → b in Γrel .

• For every (anti-)commutativity relation ab −ba ∈ I 2 or ab +ba ∈ I 2 we

have an undirected edge between a and b.

If the quiver contains only one vertex we have that Γrel = ΓI , but if the
quiver have more vertices every pair a i a j such that t(a i ) 6= o(a j ) will give rise
to a directed edge in Γrel . The resolutions that we will create in the following
propositions will be free resolutions. We let Λa1 a2 ...an denote the copy of the
algebra Λ that corresponds to the walk a 1 a 2 . . . a n . The unit element in this
algebra we will denote by 1a1 a2 ...an .

Proposition 4.1.4. Let I be a quadratic monomial ideal and Γrel the relation
graph of K Q/I . Then we can form a minimal, projective resolution of Λ/J
over Λ as follows

· · · → P n → · · · → P 2 → P 1 → P 0 → Λ/J → 0

where P 0 = Λ and
Λa1 a2 ...an .
M
Pn =
a 1 ...a n ∈Wn−1 (Γrel )

Let d n : P n+1 → P n be defined by d n (1a1 ...an+1 ) = a 1 1a2 ...an+1 .

Proof. Since all modules are free, they are projective. We have that

d n−1 d n (1a1 a2 ...an+1 ) = d n−1 (a 1 1a2 a3 ...an+1 ) = a 1 a 2 1a3 a4 ...an+1

We have that a 1 a 2 is a directed edge in the relation graph Γrel , and hence
a 1 a 2 = 0. Hence d n−1 ◦ d n = 0, i.e. Im(d n ) ⊆ Ker(d n−1 ).
Assume ki=0 p i 1ai 1 ai 2 ...ai n ∈ Ker(d n−1 ) where 0 6= p i ∈ K Q/I , i.e.
P

k
¡X ¢ Xk
d n−1 p i 1ai 1 ai 2 ...ai n = p i a i 1 1ai 2 ai 3 ...ai n = 0.
i =0 i =0

Consider the part of the sum that ends up in Λa1 a2 ...an−1 , say j r j m j a j = 0
P

where 0 6= r j ∈ K , m j monomials belonging to some polynomials, p i , and a j

arrows such that a j a 1 is an edge in Γrel .
Since I is a monomial ideal, if m i a i = m l a l , we have that a i = a l which
implies that m i +m l ∈ Λai a1 a2 ...an−1 and hence m i +m l is already a monomial
in the polynomial. Hence we may assume that m j a j are all distinct mono-
mials in K Q/I . Because I is a monomial ideal and all m j a j are distinct we
get that m j a j = 0 for all j .

46
 Assume m j = b 1 . . . b m 6= 0, where b i ∈ Q 1 for all 1 ≤ i ≤ m. Since m j 6= 0
and I a monomial ideal, we either have that t(b m ) 6= o(a 1 ) or, by Lemma
3.1.4, b m a 1 ∈ I . Since the edges in Γrel encodes all quadratic monomials
ab such that ab = 0 ∈ K Q/I , in either case b m a j is a directed edge in Γrel
and hence there exist a walk of length n in Γrel , obtained by adding the edge
b a to a j a 1 a 2 . . . a n−1 . This means that m j ∈ Im(d n ) for all monomials in
Pmk j
i =0 p i 1a i 1 a i 2 ...a i n . Hence Ker(d n ) = Im(d n−1 ) and the sequence is exact. The
minimality of the resolution is clear, since we obviously have the minimal
number of basis element in each free module.

Example 4.1.5. Let Q be the quiver depicted below and I = 〈a 1 a 2 , a 2 a 3 〉.

a1 a2

q
D◦

a3

Since we have no trivial relations in the quiver, Γrel = ΓI . The generator

graph ΓI will be a 1 → a 2 → a 3 and hence the resolution will be
0 → Λa1 a2 a3 → Λa1 a2 ⊕ Λa2 a3 → Λa1 ⊕ Λa2 ⊕ Λa3 → Λ → Λ/J → 0
with differentials

 d 1 (x, y, z) = d 1 (x1a1 + y1a2 + z1a3 ) = xa 1 + y a 2 + za 3
d (x, y) = d 2 (x1a1 a2 + y1a2 a3 ) = xa 1 1a2 + y a 2 1a3
 2
d 3 (x) = d 3 (x1a1 a2 a3 ) = xa 1 1a2 a3
Example 4.1.6. Let Q be the quiver depicted below and I = 〈a 1 a 2 , a 2 a 3 〉.
a1

 a3
/◦
D◦

a2

Now Γrel will contain ΓI but also the edges a 3 a 1 and a 3 a 2 .

v / a2 / a3
a1 b
Since Γrel contains cycles we will not get a finite resolution but to illustrate
the pattern we list the first five modules.
P0 = Λ
P1 = Λa 1 ⊕ Λa 2 ⊕ Λa 3
P2 = Λa 1 a 2 ⊕ Λa 2 a 3 ⊕ Λa 3 a 1 ⊕ Λa 3 a 2
P3 = Λa 1 a 2 a 3 ⊕ Λa 2 a 3 a 1 ⊕ Λa 2 a 3 a 2 ⊕ Λa 3 a 1 a 2 ⊕ Λa 3 a 2 a 3
P4 = Λa 1 a 2 a 3 a 1 ⊕ Λa 1 a 2 a 3 a 2 ⊕ Λa 2 a 3 a 1 a 2 ⊕ Λa 2 a 3 a 2 a 3 ⊕ Λa 3 a 1 a 2 a 3 ⊕
⊕Λa3 a2 a3 a1 ⊕ Λa3 a2 a3 a2

47
Hence the number of submodules in the sum will grow in every step and the
resolution will be infinite.

Definition 4.1.7. An n-simplex in a graph Γ is a subgraph of Γ that is a com-

plete graph with n + 1 vertices and all edges undirected.

If Γrel has no directed edges, then the quiver Q has no trivial relations.
This implies that Q consists of only one vertex and loops. In this case Γrel =
ΓI .
In the following proposition we will create free resolutions again. Here
we let Λa1 a2 ...an denote the copy of the algebra Λ that corresponds to the sim-
plex a 1 a 2 . . . a n . The unit element in this algebra we will denote by 1a1 a2 ...an .
Fix an order of the vertices in Γ. Let all n-simplices in Γ be denoted by the
increasing sequence of the vertices, i.e. if we have a 2-simplex with vertices
a 4 , a 1 and a 7 we denote it by a 1 a 4 a 7 .

Proposition 4.1.8. Let Λ = K Q/I where |Q 0 | = 1 and

I = 〈a i a j − a j a i for some loops a i , a j ∈ Q 1 〉.

Then we can form a minimal, projective resolution of Λ/J over Λ as follows:

· · · → P n → · · · → P 2 → P 1 → P 0 → Λ/J → 0

Let P 0 = Λ and
Λa1 a2 ...an .
M
Pn =
(n − 1) − simplices in
Γrel

We let d n : P n+1 → P n be defined by

n+1
(−1) j +1 a j 1a1 a2 ...a j −1 abj a j +1 ...an+1 .
X
d n (1a1 a2 ...an+1 ) =
j =1

Proof. Note that if a 1 a 2 . . . a n is a simplex in the relation graph, we have that

all a i are distinct.
We first check that Im(d n ) ⊆ Ker(d n−1 ).

¡ n+1
(−1) j +1 a j 1a1 a2 ...a j −1 abj a j +1 ...an+1 =
X ¢
d n−1 d n (1a1 a2 ...an+1 ) = d n−1
j =1
i n+1
(−1) j +1 a j (−1)βi j a k 1a1 a2 ...abk ...abj ...an+1
X X
=
j =1 k=1
k 6= j

where ½
k + 1 if k < j
βi j =
k if k > j

48
Pick s and t such that both a s and a t are vertices in the simplex and assume
s < t . Then the part of the double sum above that ends up in the summand
s t +1
Λa1 a2 ...c a t ...a n is (−1) (−1)
a s ...c a s a t +(−1)s+1 (−1)t +1 a s a t . Since a s a t −a t a s ∈
I we have that (−1) (−1) a s a t + (−1)s+1 (−1)t +1 a s a t ∈ I . Hence Im(d n ) ⊆
s t +1

Ker(d n−1 ).
Assume x = ki=1 p i 1ai 1 ai 2 ...ai n ∈ Ker(d n−1 ) where 0 6= p i ∈ K Q/I , i.e.
P

k k n
(−1) j +1 a j 1a1 a2 ...a j −1 abj a j +1 ...an+1 = 0.
¡X ¢ X X
d n−1 p i 1ai 1 ai 2 ...ai n = pi
i =1 i =1 j =1

Consider the part of the sum that ends up in Λa1 a2 ...an−1 , say j r j m j b j = 0
P

where 0 6= r j ∈ K , m j monomials and b j arrows such that there exists a

(n −1)-simplex with vertices a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n−1 , b j in Γrel . Since the ideal doesn’t
contain any monomials and the quiver Q consists of only one point and
loops we have that a i a j 6= 0 for all arrows a i , a j ∈ Q 1 . Pick a monomial
P
m k b k in j r j m j b j = 0. Since the sum equals 0, by Lemma 3.1.7, we have
that there exist a monomial m l b l in the sum such that m k b k ∼ m l b l . We
observe that this means that b l is an arrow in the path m k and that (b k b l )
is an allowed transposition. Since (b k b l ) is an allowed transposition and
b k a 1 a 2 . . . a n−1 and b l a 1 a 2 . . . a n−1 are n − 1-simplices we have that there ex-
ist an n-simplex with vertices a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n−1 , b k , b l . Let m e k denote m k with
the rightmost copy of b l removed. Since m k b k ∼ m l b l we have that m k b k ∼
me k b l b k . In the same way we let m e l denote m l with the rightmost copy of
b k removed. We get that m e k bl bk ∼ m e l b l b k and hence, by Corollary 3.1.8,
mek = m e l ∈ K Q/I . Hence y 1 = r k (m k 1bk a1 a2 ...an−1 + m l 1bl a1 a2 ...an−1 ) ∈ Im d n .
We subtract y 1 from x. Since the monomial m l was already in the sum x
we have that x − y 1 contains fewer monomials than x and by successively
finding and removing y n ∈ Im d n we get that x ∈ Im d n .

Example 4.1.9. Let Q be a quiver with one point and four loops a 1 , a 2 , a 3
and a 4 . Let I = 〈a 1 a 2 − a 2 a 1 , a 1 a 3 − a 3 a 1 , a 2 a 3 − a 3 a 2 , a 2 a 4 − a 4 a 2 , a 3 a 4 −
a 4 a 3 〉. Then the generator graph ΓI will look like this

a1 B a2 B .
BB | BB
BB || BB
BB ||| BB
B || B
a3 a4

The graph consists of two 2-simplices, five 1-simplices and four 0-simplices.
Even though we have four vertices, we do not get a 3-simplex, since a 1 a 4 −

49
a 4 a 1 ∉ I . We now have a projective resolution

0 → Λa 1 a 2 a 3 ⊕ Λa 2 a 3 a 4 → Λa 1 a 2 ⊕ Λa 1 a 3 ⊕ Λa 2 a 3 ⊕ Λa 2 a 4 ⊕ Λa 3 a 4 →
→ Λa1 ⊕ Λa2 ⊕ Λa3 ⊕ Λa4 → Λ → Λ/J → 0

with differentials defined by

d 1 (x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , x 4 ) = d 1 (x 1 1a1 + x 2 1a2 + x 3 1a3 + x 4 1a4 ) =

= x1 a1 + x2 a2 + x3 a3 + x4 a4

d 2 (x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , x 4 , x 5 ) =
= d 2 (x 1 1a1 a2 + x 2 1a1 a3 + x 3 1a2 a3 + x 4 1a2 a4 + x 5 1a3 a4 ) =
= (−x 1 a 2 − x 2 a 3 )1a1 + (x 1 a 1 − x 3 a 3 − x 4 a 4 )1a2 +
+ (x 2 a 1 + x 3 a 2 − x 5 a 4 )1a3 + (x 4 a 2 + x 5 a 3 )1a4

d 3 (x, y) = d 3 (x1a1 a2 a3 + y1a2 a3 a4 ) =

= xa 3 1a1 a2 − xa 2 1a1 a3 + (xa 1 + y a 4 )1a2 a3 − y a 3 1a2 a4 + y a 2 1a3 a4

Proposition 4.1.10. Let Λ = K Q/I where |Q 0 | = 1 and

I = 〈a i a j + a j a i for some loops a i , a j ∈ Q 1 〉.

Then we can form a minimal, projective resolution of Λ/J over Λ as follows:

· · · → P n → · · · → P 2 → P 1 → P 0 → Λ/J → 0

Let P 0 = Λ and
Λa1 a2 ...an .
M
Pn =
(n − 1) − simplex in
Γrel

We let d n : P n+1 → P n be defined by

n+1
X
d n (1a1 a2 ...an+1 ) = a j 1a1 a2 ...a j −1 abj a j +1 ...an+1 .
j =1

The proof of this proposition is analogous to the proof of Proposition

4.1.8 and therefore omitted.

Definition 4.1.11. Let G be a graph with n + 1 vertices, a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n+1 , such

that a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n is an (n −1)-simplex and from each a i in this simplex there
is a directed edge from a i to a n+1 . We say that G is an n-semi-simplex.

50
 An n-semi-simplex in a graph Γ is a subgraph G of Γ such that G is an
n-semi-simplex.
Fix an order of the vertices in Γ. Always assign the highest number to
the added vertex a n+1 . Let all n-simplices in Γ be denoted by the increasing
sequence of the vertices.

Note that a directed edge is a 1-semi-simplex.

If ΓI is a semi-simplex, then we have that

I = 〈a i a j − a j a i , a i a n+1 〉1≤i < j ≤n .

This means that Q is either a quiver with one vertex and only loops (see
Example 4.1.12(i)) or Q is a quiver with two vertices and n loops and one
other arrow a n+1 such that o(a 1 ) = o(a n+1 ) 6= t(a n+1 ) (see Example 4.1.12(ii)).

Example 4.1.12. The 2-semi-simplex

a1 B a2
BB |
BB ||
BB |||
B! }|
|
a3

is the relation graph of the following quivers and ideals.

(i) The ideal I = 〈a 1 a 2 − a 2 a 1 , a 1 a 3 , a 2 a 3 〉 and the quiver below.

a1 a2

q
D◦

a3

(ii) The ideal I = 〈a 1 a 2 − a 2 a 1 〉 and the quiver below.

a1


o
D◦ a3
◦

a2

If |Q 1 | = 1 and Γrel is a semi-simplex, then we can construct a projective

resolution with the help of Γrel .

Proposition 4.1.13. Let I be a commutativity ideal such that Γrel is a semi-

simplex and Q a quiver such that |Q 0 | = 1. Then we can form a minimal,
projective resolution of Λ/J over Λ as follows:

· · · → P n → · · · → P 2 → P 1 → P 0 → Λ/J → 0

51
 Let P 0 = Λ and

Λa1 a2 ...an
M
Pn =
(n − 1) − simplices or
(n − 1) − semi − simplices in
Γrel

where the maps d n : P n+1 → P n are defined by

( Pn
j +1
j =1 (−1) a j 1a1 a2 ...abj ...an+1 if a 1 a 2 . . . a n+1 is a semi-simplex
d n (1a1 a2 ...an+1 ) = Pn+1 j +1
j =1 (−1) a j 1a1 a2 ...abj ...an+1 if a 1 a 2 . . . a n+1 is a simplex

Proof. We first check that Im(d n ) ⊆ Ker(d n−1 ). For summands correspond-
ing to simplices this follows from the proofs of Proposition 4.1.8. Assume
a 1 a 2 . . . a n a n+1 is a semi-simplex and n ≥ 2.

n
(−1) j +1 a j 1a1 a2 ...a j −1 abj a j +1 ...an+1 =
¡X ¢
d n−1 d n (1a1 a2 ...an+1 ) = d n−1
j =1
i n
(−1) j +1 a j (−1)βi j a k 1a1 a2 ...abk ...abj ...an+1
X X
=
j =1 k=1
k 6= j

where ½
k + 1 if k < j
βi j =
k if k > j
Pick s and t such that both a s and a t are vertices in the simplex and assume
s < t . Then the part of the double sum above that ends up in the summand
s t +1
Λa1 a2 ...c a t ...a n is (−1) (−1)
a s ...c a s a t +(−1)s+1 (−1)t +1 a s a t . Since a s a t −a t a s ∈
I we have that (−1)s (−1)t +1 a s a t + (−1)s+1 (−1)t +1 a s a t ∈ I . Hence Im(d n ) ⊆
Ker(d n−1 ). Note that we don’t have any map from Λa1 a2 ...an an+1 to Λa1 a2 ...an ,
this is because a n+1 p 6= 0 for all 0 6= p ∈ K Q/I . Hence Im(d n ) ⊆ Ker(d n−1 ).
Assume X
x = x s 1a s1 a s2 a s3 ...a sn
s

where a s1 a s2 a s3 . . . a sn is either a (n − 1)-simplices in ΓI or a (n − 1)-semi-

simplex in Γrel . Note that if a s1 a s2 a s3 . . . a sn is a simplex we get the same proof
as Proposition 4.1.8. If a s1 a s2 a s3 . . . a sn is a semi-simplex, then a sn = b where
b is the added vertex in the semi-simplex ΓI . Assume x ∈ Ker(d n−1 ) and
the part that ends up in the summand corresponding to the semi-simplex
P
a t1 a t2 . . . a tn−1 b is j x k a k for all n-semi-simplices, with vertices a t1 , a t2 , . . . , a tn−1 , a k
P
and the added vertex b. By assumption j x k a k = 0. Using the procedure
described in the proof of Proposition 4.1.8 we get that x ∈ Im d n and hence
the sequence is exact.

52
Example 4.1.14. Let Q be the quiver with one point and three loops, a 1 , a 2
and a 3 (see Example 4.1.12). Let I = 〈a 1 a 2 − a 2 a 1 , a 1 a 3 , a 2 a 3 〉. The generator
graph ΓI will be
a1 B a2
BB ||
BB |
BB ||
B! }|||
a3
and hence the resolution will be
0 → Λa1 a2 a3 → Λa1 a2 ⊕ Λa1 a3 ⊕ Λa2 a3 → Λa1 ⊕ Λa2 ⊕ Λa3 → Λ → Λ/J → 0
with the differentials
d 1 (x, y, z) = d 1 (x1a1 + y1a2 + z1a3 ) = xa 1 + y a 2 + za 3
d 2 (x, y, z) = d 2 (x1a1 a2 + y1a1 a3 + z1a2 a3 ) = −xa 2 1a1 + xa 1 1a2 + (y a 1 + za 2 )1a3 .
d 3 (x) = d 3 (x1a1 a2 a3 ) = xa 1 1a2 a3 − xa 2 1a1 a3 .
Proposition 4.1.15. Let I be an anti-commutativity ideal such that Γrel is a
semi-simplex and Q a quiver such that |Q 0 | = 1. Then we can form a minimal,
projective resolution of Λ/J over Λ as follows:
· · · → P n → · · · → P 2 → P 1 → P 0 → Λ/J → 0
Let P 0 = Λ and
Λa1 a2 ...an
M
Pn =
(n − 1) − simplices or
(n − 1) − semi − simplices in
Γrel

where the maps d n : P n+1 → P n are defined by

( Pn
j =1 a j 1a 1 a 2 ...abj ...a n+1 if a 1 a 2 . . . a n+1 is a semi-simplex
d n (1a1 a2 ...an+1 ) = Pn+1
j =1 a j 1a 1 a 2 ...abj ...a n+1 if a 1 a 2 . . . a n+1 is a simplex

Proof. See the proofs of Proposition 4.1.13 and Proposition 4.1.10.

4.2 Introduction to Koszul quiver algebras

The centra of quiver algebras are in themselves an interesting topic to study;
however when the algebra is a Koszul algebra the graded center is even more
interesting. We recall some basic facts about Koszul algebras. The proofs
are omitted in this section, but the reader may consult [MV07] for a more
extended survey. We still let Λ := K Q/I where K is a field, Q a finite quiver
and I a quadratic ideal. The graded Jacobson radical is still denoted by J.
To be able to define what a Koszul algebra is and the Koszul dual of a Koszul
quiver algebra we first need to define some notation.

53
Definition 4.2.1. The Yoneda algebra of Λ is defined by

ExtnΛ (Λ/J, Λ/J)

M
E (Λ) =
n≥0

Definition 4.2.2. A graded quiver algebra Λ bound by a quadratic ideal is a

Koszul algebra if Λ/J is of the form K ⊕ K ⊕ · · · ⊕ K , and it’s Yoneda algebra
E (Λ), is generated in degrees 0 and 1 as a graded K -algebra.

A graded resolution is linear if all differentials have grade 1. The connec-

tion between Koszul algebras and linear resolutions comes from the follow-
ing theorem [GMV96](Theorem 3.3 and Corollary 3.4).

Theorem 4.2.3. A quadratic graded quiver algebra Λ is a Koszul algebra if

and only if Λ/J has a linear minimal Λ-resolution.
op
Any quiver Q has an opposite quiver Q op , obtained by letting Q 0 = Q 0
op
and for any arrow a ∈ Q 1 we have an arrow a o ∈ Q 1 such that o(a) = t(a o )
and t(a) = o(a o ).
If p = a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∈ K Q we let p o = a no a n−1
o
. . . a 1o ∈ K Q op . If I is an ideal of
K Q, let I o be an ideal of K Q op such that if ni=1 p i ∈ I then ni=1 p io ∈ I o .
P P

Definition 4.2.4. For a quadratic quiver algebra Λ = K Q/I we define the

Koszul dual Λ! := K Q op /I o⊥ .

A well-known result about Koszul algebras used in this chapter is the

following proposition proved in [GMV98] (Theorem 2.4).

Proposition 4.2.5. A quadratic graded K-algebra Λ is a Koszul algebra if and

only if Λ! is a Koszul algebra.

In the next chapter we will use the following theorem by [GMV98] (The-
orem 2.2)

Theorem 4.2.6. Let K Q/I be a finite-dimensional quadratic Koszul algebra

then E (K Q/I ) = K Q op /I o⊥ = Λ! .

4.3 Koszulity of some partly (anti-)commutative quiver

algebras
In Chapter 5 We want to use Theorem 4.2.6, and hence we need to show that
the class of quiver algebras that we investigate consists of Koszul algebras.
In general it is very hard to tell if an algebra is Koszul or not, thus this chap-
ter will not classify all partly commutative and all partly anti-commutative

54
Koszul quiver algebras, but the projective resolutions earlier in this chapter
at least provides us with some examples.
If I is a monomial ideal, Green and Zacharia showed that Λ is a Koszul
algebra if and only if I is a quadratic ideal [GZ94]. That quadratic monomial
algebras are Koszul algebras can also be seen by using Proposition 4.1.4.
Proposition 4.3.1. Let I be a quadratic monomial ideal. Then Λ = K Q/I is a
Koszul algebra.
Proof. By Proposition 4.1.4 we can create a linear minimal Λ-resolution of
Λ/J and hence, by Theorem 4.2.3, Λ is a Koszul algebra.

Proposition 4.3.2. Let Q be a quiver such that |Q 0 | = 1 and let

I = 〈a i a j + a j a i for some loops a i , a j ∈ Q 1 ,

a k a l for all other quadratic monomials in K Q〉.

Then K Q/I is a Koszul algebra.

Proof. We have

I o⊥ = 〈a io a oj − a oj a io for some loops a i , a j ∈ Q 1 〉.

By Proposition 4.1.8 we have that K Q op /I o⊥ has a minimal, linear resolution,

and hence, by Theorem 4.2.3, it is a Koszul algebra. Using Proposition 4.2.5
we get that K Q/I is also a Koszul algebra.

Proposition 4.3.3. Let Q be a quiver such that |Q 0 | = 1 and let

I = 〈a i a j − a j a i for some loops a i , a j ∈ Q 1 ,

a k a l for all other quadratic monomials in K Q〉.

Then K Q/I is a Koszul algebra.

Proof. We have

I o⊥ = 〈a io a oj + a oj a io for some loops a i , a j ∈ Q 1 〉.

By Proposition 4.1.10 we have that K Q op /I o⊥ has a linear resolution and hence,

by Theorem 4.2.3, it is a Koszul algebra. Using Proposition 4.2.5 we get that
K Q/I is also a Koszul algebra.

Proposition 4.3.4. Let Q be a quiver consisting of one vertex and n + 1 loops.

Let Q 1 = {a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n , b}. Let

I = 〈a i2 , a i a j + a j a i , a i b, b 2 〉1≤i , j ≤n .

Then K Q/I is a Koszul algebra.

55
Proof. We have that

I o = 〈(a io )2 , a io a oj + a oj a io , b o a io , (b o )2 〉1≤i , j ≤n .

Hence
I o⊥ = 〈a io a oj − a oj a io , a io b o 〉i , j .

By Proposition 4.1.13 K Q op /I o⊥ has a minimal, linear resolution. Hence by

Theorem 4.2.3 it is a Koszul algebra.

Proposition 4.3.5. Let Q be a quiver consisting of one vertex and n + 1 loops.

Let Q 1 = {a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n , b}. Let

I = 〈a i2 , a i a j − a j a i , ba i , b 2 〉1≤i , j ≤n

then K Q/I is a Koszul algebra.

Proof. Analogous to the proof of Proposition 4.3.4.

56
5. The graded center and finite
generation of the Hochschild
cohomology ring

5.1 Graded centra of partly (anti-)commutative quiver

algebras
As mentioned in the introduction the work in this thesis is of interest to
those who study support varieties for finitely generated modules over a finite-
dimensional algebra. When we study support varieties of finite-dimensional
Koszul quiver algebras the graded center is useful, and hence this chapter is
devoted to describe the graded centra of partly (anti-)commutative quiver
algebras. In this chapter we always assume that char K 6= 0.
Since quiver algebras bound by homogeneous ideals are graded algebras
the center Z (K Q/I ) also has a grading. Hence Z (K Q/I ) = k≥0 Z k (K Q/I ).
L

Let
Z ev (K Q/I ) :=
M 2k
Z (K Q/I ),
k≥0

i.e. the parts of the center of even grades.

Definition 5.1.1. Let the degree of a monomial p in K Q/I be denoted by |p|.

The graded center Zgr (K Q/I ) consists of the elements p ∈ K Q/I such that
pq = (−1)|p||q| q p for all q ∈ K Q/I .
0 +
The graded center is of course graded and Zgr (Λ) = K . Let Zgr (Λ) =
L k
k≥1 Zgr (Λ).

Lemma 5.1.2. Let I be a square-free (anti-)commutativity ideal and Λ =

+ +
K Q/I . Then Zgr (Λ) is generated by monomials and if a 1 a 2 . . . a n ∈ Zgr (Λ),
then (a i a j ) is an allowed transposition for any pair 1 ≤ i , j ≤ n.
+
Proof. Analogous to the proof of Lemma 3.2.4 we get that Zgr (Λ) is gener-
P
ated by permutation homogeneous elements. Assume i p i ∈ Zgr (Λ) is a
P
permutation homogeneous element. Then, for any a ∈ Q 1 , we have i ap i =
P |p i | P
i (−1) p i a. Since p p i is permutation homogeneous we have, for all p i

57
in the sum, that |p i | = j for a fixed number j ∈ N. Assume p k = a 1 a 2 . . . a n
and a 1 p k 6= 0, then there exist an p l such that a 1 p k = (−1) j p l a 1 and by
Lemma 3.1.7 and Lemma 3.1.9 p k ∼ p l , i.e. (a 1 a m ) is an allowed transpo-
sition for all 2 ≤ m ≤ n. Inductively we get that (a i a j ) are allowed trans-
positions for all 1 ≤ i , j ≤ n (see proof of Theorem 3.2.6 for the technique).
P
Hence p k = p i for all p i in the sum i p i and the graded center is generated
by monomials.

Lemma 5.1.3. Let I be a square-free commutativity ideal. Then Zgr (Λ) =

Z ev (Λ).

Proof. It is clear that Z ev (Λ) ⊆ Zgr (Λ), since if |p| = 2k and p ∈ Z (Λ) we have
that pq = (−1)(2k)|q| q p = q p for all q ∈ Λ.
Assume that p 6= 0 is a monomial, p ∈ Zgr (Λ) and |p| odd. Then for any
q ∈ Λ we have that pq = (−1)|p||q| q p. Hence, if p 2 = −p 2 . Since p ∈ Z (Λ)
and I square-free we have that p 2 6= 0 which gives a contradiction and hence
Zgr (Λ) does not contain any elements of odd degree.

Lemma 5.1.4. Let I be a square-free anti-commutativity ideal. Then Zgr (Λ) =

Z ev (Λ).

Proof. It is clear that Z ev (Λ) ⊆ Zgr (Λ) (see proof of the previous lemma for
details). Assume p ∈ Zgr (Λ) and |p| odd. Since p ∈ Zgr (Λ) we have bp = −pb
for all b ∈ Q 1 . Let p = a 1 a 2 . . . a n . We have that I is square-free, and hence,
by Lemma 5.1.2 a i p 6= 0 for any 1 ≤ i ≤ n. Since |p| is odd we can find an a i
such that p contains an odd number of copies of a i . Since p is assumed to
be in the center we have a 1 p = −pa i which by Lemma 3.1.9 implies that the
number of transpositions needed to transform a i p to pa i is odd, and hence
we need an even number of copies of a i in the monomial p. This gives a
contradiction and hence we have no elements of odd degree in Zgr (Λ).

Lemma 5.1.5. Let I be a commutativity ideal such that I ⊥ is admissible. If

Z (Λ) is finitely generated as a K -algebra, then so is Z ev (Λ).

Proof. By Lemma 3.4.2, if Z (Λ) is finitely generated, then it is generated in

degree 1. A finite number of degree 1 generators gives a finite number of
degree 2 monomials, and hence Z ev (Λ) is finitely generated if Z (Λ) is finitely
generated.

Lemma 5.1.6. Let I be a anti-commutativity ideal such that I ⊥ is admissible.

If Z (Λ) is finitely generated as a K -algebra, then so is Z ev (Λ). Moreover if
Z ev (Λ) = Z (Λ).

58
Proof. By Lemma 3.4.6 we have that if Z (Λ) is finitely generated, then it is
generated in degree 2 and hence Z (Λ) = Z ev (Λ), i.e. if Z (Λ) is finitely gener-
ated then so is Z ev (Λ).

Lemma 5.1.7. Let I be a (anti-)commutativity ideal such that I ⊥ is admis-

sible. If Z (K Q/I ) is non-trivial and finitely generated as a K -algebra, then
Z (K Q op /I o ) is non-trivial and finitely generated as a K -algebra.

Proof. Theorem 3.4.4 and Theorem 3.4.8 gives conditions on the ideal I for
Z (K Q/I ) to be non-trivial and finitely generated. It is easy to see that these
conditions also holds for I o .

We let Λx := K Q x /I x (see Definition 3.3.9).

Proposition 5.1.8. Let I be a commutativity ideal such that I ⊥ is admissible.

The graded center Zgr (Λ) is finitely generated as a K -algebra if and only if for
all x ∈ Q 0 either Zgr (Λx ) is trivial or

I x ⊇ 〈ab − ba, ca, ad 〉 a, b loops with basepoint x, .

c, d arrows such that o(c) 6= t(c) = x, t(d ) 6= o(d ) = x

Proof. If I x is as described above, then, by Theorem 3.4.4 Z (Λ) is finitely

generated and by Lemma 5.1.5 so is Z ev (K Q/I ). Hence Zgr (Λx ) is finitely
generated.
Assume that Zgr (Λ) is finitely generated. Assume Zgr (Λx ) is non-trivial.
By Lemma 5.1.3 Zgr (Λx ) = Z ev (Λx ) and hence Z (Λx ) is also non-trivial. The
generators of Z ev (Λx ) is all ab ∈ Z (Λx ) such that a, b ∈ Z (Λx ) and Theorem
3.4.4 gives the result.

Proposition 5.1.9. Let I be an anti-commutativity ideal such that I ⊥ is ad-

missible. The graded center Zgr (Λ) is finitely generated as a K -algebra if and
only if for all x ∈ Q 0 either Zgr (Λx ) is trivial or

I x ⊇ 〈ab + ba, ca, ad 〉 a, b loops with basepoint x, .

c, d arrows such that o(c) 6= t(c) = x, t(d ) 6= o(d ) = x

Proof. Follows immediately from Theorem 3.4.8.

5.2 Introduction to the Hochschild cohomology ring

We begin this section by fixing the notation. Let Λ be an indecomposable
finite-dimensional algebra over an algebraically closed field K . Let r denote
the Jacobson radical of Λ. Let Λe denote the enveloping algebra Λop ⊗K Λ.

59
Definition 5.2.1. The Hochschild cohomology ring, HH∗ (Λ), of Λ is given
by
HH∗ (Λ) = Ext∗Λe (Λ, Λ) = ExtiΛe (Λ, Λ)
M
i ≥0

with the Yoneda product.

An element of ExtnΛe (Λ, Λ) can be considered as an exact sequence of

Λ, Λ-bimodules

E: 0 → Λ → E n → E n−1 → · · · → E 1 → Λ → 0

where the Yoneda product of the exact sequences E and F is the splice of the
exact sequences

··· / E2 / E1 / Fn / F n−1 / ···

@@ ~ >
@@ ~~
@@ ~~
@ ~~
Λ

It is well-known that HH∗ (Λ) is a graded commutative ring, i.e. for any
elements η, θ ∈ HH∗ (Λ) we have that ηθ = (−1)|η||θ| θη, where |η| and |θ| are
the grades of η and θ respectively. Let N denote the ideal of HH∗ (Λ) gener-
ated by the homogeneous nilpotent elements.

Lemma 5.2.2. If charK 6= 2 then HH2k+1 (Λ) ⊆ N for all k ≥ 0.

Proof. Assume θ ∈ HH2k+1 (Λ). As HH∗ (Λ) is graded commutative we have

2
that θ 2 = (−1)(2k+1) θ 2 = −θ 2 . The only way this can happen is if θ 2 = 0 and
hence HH2k+1 (Λ) ⊆ N for all k ≥ 0.

The graded commutativity of HH∗ (Λ) also implies that N is contained

in every maximal ideal of HH∗ (Λ) and hence

MaxSpec HH∗ (Λ) = MaxSpec HH∗ (Λ)/N .

In [SS04] Snashall and Solberg conjectured that if Λ is a finite dimen-

sional algebra over a field K , then HH∗ (Λ)/N is a finitely generated K -algebra.
This is known to be true for many classes of algebras, for example

• any block of a group ring of a finite group

• any block of a finite-dimensional cocommutative Hopf algebra

• finite dimensional selfinjective algebras of finite representation type

over an algebraically closed field

60
 • finite dimensional monomial algebras.

However it is not true in general and the first counterexample was published
2008 by Xu [Xu08]. In Xu’s counterexample the field was of characteristic 2.
Using the following theorem by Buchweitz, Green, Snashall and Solberg the
example was generalized to all characteristics by Snashall in [Sna08] (see
Example 1.1.1). We state the theorem without proof. Let Zgr (Λ! ) denote the
graded center of Λ! and N Z denote the ideal of Zgr (Λ! ) generated by homo-
geneous nilpotent elements.

Theorem 5.2.3. [BGSS08] (Theorem 4.1) Let K be a field and Λ = K Q/I a

finite-dimensional Koszul algebra. Then

HH∗ (Λ)/N ∼
= Zgr (Λ! )/N Z .

5.3 Finite generation of the Hochschild cohomology ring

Lemma 5.3.1. Let I be an (anti-)commutativity ideal such that I ⊥ is admis-
sible. Then Z ev (Λ) does not contain any nilpotent elements.

Proof. By Lemma 3.1.18 I is a square-free ideal and hence the result follows
directly from Proposition 3.3.1 (and Proposition 3.3.2).

Theorem 5.3.2. Let I be an admissible commutativity ideal and Λ = K Q/I

a Koszul algebra. Then the Hochschild cohomology ring modulo nilpotence,
HH∗ (Λ)/N , is finitely generated if and only if for all x ∈ Q 0 either Z ((Λ! )x ) is
trivial or for any pair of loops a, b with basepoint x we have that ab − ba ∈ I x
and the only monomial in I x containing a loop a is a 2 .

Proof. By Theorem 4.2.6 and Theorem 5.2.3 HH∗ (Λ)/N ∼ = Zgr (Λ! )/N Z . We
!
have that Λ is a partly anti-commutative quiver algebra and hence by Propo-
sition 5.1.4 we have that Zgr (Λ! ) = Z ev (Λ! ).
If
I x = 〈a i2 , a i a j − a j a i , some a k a l 〉i , j ,k,l ,

then
I x⊥ = 〈a i a j + a j a i , a i a k , a k a i , a k a l ∉ I x 〉i , j ,k,l .

Hence, by Theorem 3.4.8, Z (Λ! ) is finitely generated and Lemma 5.1.6 im-
plies that Z ev (Λ) is finitely generated.
Assume that HH∗ (Λ)/N is finitely generated. Then Zgr (Λ! )/N Z is finitely
generated. By Proposition 5.1.4 and Lemma 5.3.1 we have that Zgr (Λ! )/N Z =

61
Z ev (Λ! ). Assume Z (Λ! ) is non-trivial. Then Theorem 3.4.8 gives that there
exists x ∈ Q 1 such that

I x⊥ ⊇ 〈ab + ba, ca, ad 〉 a, b loops with basepoint x, .

c, d arrows such that o(c) 6= t(c) = x, t(d ) 6= o(d ) = x

By Lemma 3.1.15 we have that for any pair of loops a, b the ideal I x contains
ab − ba and the only monomials containing loops are the squares.

Theorem 5.3.3. Let I be an admissible anti-commutativity ideal and Λ =

K Q/I a Koszul algebra. Then the Hochschild cohomology ring modulo nilpo-
tence, HH∗ (Λ)/N , is finitely generated if and only if for all x ∈ Q 0 either
Z ((Λ! )x ) is trivial or for any pair of loops a, b with basepoint x we have that
ab + ba ∈ I x and the only monomial in I x containing a loop a is a 2 .

Proof. By Theorem 4.2.6 and Theorem 5.2.3 HH∗ (Λ)/N ∼ = Zgr (Λ! )/N Z . We
have that Λ! is a partly commutative algebra and hence by Proposition 5.1.3
we have that Zgr (Λ! ) = Z ev (Λ! ).
If
I x = 〈a i2 , a i a j + a j a i , some a k a l 〉i , j ,k,l ,
then
I x⊥ = 〈a i a j − a j a i , a i a k , a k a i , a k a l ∉ I x 〉i , j ,k,l .
Hence, by Theorem 3.4.4, Z (Λ! ) is finitely generated and Lemma 5.1.5 gives
Zgr (Λ) also finitely generated.
Let S = {a 1 , a 2 , . . . a n } be the set of loops with basepoint x such that a i a j +
a j a i ∈ I for all a i , a j ∈ S. If

I x = 〈a i2 , a i a j + a j a i , some a k a l 〉ai ,a j ∈S,ak ,al ∉S ,

then
I x⊥ = 〈a i a j − a j a i , a i a k , a k a i , a k a l ∉ I x 〉ai ,a j ∈S,ak ,al ∉S .
Then Z ev (Λ! ) is generated by the squares a i2 such that a i ∈ S. Since Q 1 is a
finite set we have that S is a finite set and hence Z ((Λ! )x ) is finitely generated.
Assume that HH∗ (Λ)/N is finitely generated. Then Zgr (Λ! )/N Z is finitely
generated. By Proposition 5.1.4 and Lemma 5.3.1 we have that Zgr (Λ! )/N Z =
Z ev (Λ! ). Assume Z (Λ! ) is non-trivial. Then Theorem 3.4.4 gives that there
exists x ∈ Q 1 such that

I x⊥ ⊇ 〈ab − ba, ca, ad 〉 a, b loops with basepoint x, .

c, d arrows such that o(c) 6= t(c) = x, t(d ) 6= o(d ) = x

By Lemma 3.1.15 we have that for any pair of loops a, b the ideal I x contains
ab − ba and the only monomials containing loops are the squares.

62
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