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18 votes
3 answers
1k views

Is a retract of a free object free?

I wonder whether this is true in the categories of groups, monoids, commutative algebras, associative algebras, Lie algebras?
Victor's user avatar
  • 1,875
17 votes
4 answers
2k views

Constructive proof that a kernel consists of nilpotent elements

I am interested in the following innocent looking statement: Let $A \leftarrow R \rightarrow B$ be two homomorphisms of commutative rings. Assume that their kernels consist of nilpotent elements. ...
HeinrichD's user avatar
  • 5,482
17 votes
6 answers
3k views

What's an example of a transcendental power series?

Let $k$ be a field. What is an explicit power series $f \in k[[t]]$ that is transcendental over $k[t]$? I am looking for elementary example (so there should be a proof of transcendence that does ...
jlk's user avatar
  • 3,284
17 votes
3 answers
2k views

The minimum of a sum of absolute values of inner products in $\mathbb{R}^d$

Consider a collection of unit vectors $v_1, \ldots, v_n$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$ (we think of $n$ being much larger than $d$). I would like to minimize the sum: $$\sum_{i\neq j}|\langle v_i,v_j\rangle|.$$ ...
TOM's user avatar
  • 2,288
16 votes
1 answer
2k views

Questions about spectra of rings of continuous functions

I have been thinking a bit about rings of continuous functions of various kinds -- how they motivate the more modern notion of the Zariski topology on the prime spectrum as well as how they fit into a ...
Pete L. Clark's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
682 views

Is a wild automorphism of $k[x_1,\ldots,x_n]$, $n \geq 3$, necessarily of infinite order?

Let $k[x_1,\ldots,x_n]$ be a polynomial ring over a field $k$ of characteristic zero. When $n=2$, it is known that every automorphism of $k[x_1,x_2]$ is tame, namely, a finite product of elementary ...
user237522's user avatar
  • 2,837
15 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is $R=k[x_1,\ldots]\to k[[x_1,\ldots]]$ a flat morphism? What about $R\to\hat{R}$?

Let $k$ be a field. For $R=k[x_1,\ldots]$ with countably infinite number of variables, [due to the discussion in the comments] we have to make the following distinction between $k[[x_1,\ldots]]$ and ...
Frank's user avatar
  • 2,976
15 votes
3 answers
4k views

Elementary Luroth theorem proof?

Hi, everyone! I'm trying to explain the proof of Luroth theorem (every field $L$, s.t. $K\subset L\subset K(t)$, is isomorphic to $K(t)$) to the high-school audience. I'm not going to use such ...
zroslav's user avatar
  • 1,422
14 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is irreducibility of polynomials $\in \mathbb{Z} [X]$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ an undecidable problem?

There are a number of criteria for determining whether a polynomial $\in \mathbb{Z} [X]$ is irreducible over $\mathbb{Q}$ (the traditional ones being Eisenstein criterion and irreducibility over a ...
SARTHAK GUPTA's user avatar
14 votes
2 answers
1k views

About integer polynomials which are sums of squares of rational polynomials...

I have the following question for which I haven't been able to find any reference or proof. Suppose we know that a univariate polynomial $P(X)$ with integer coefficients is the sum of squares of two ...
Guillermo Pineda-Villavicencio's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
2k views

Some questions about the ring Z((x))

$\newcommand{\ZZ}{\mathbb{Z}}$ $\newcommand{\dim}{\text{dim }}$ Let me begin by apologizing for the length of this question, but I thought this might be interesting to some of you. This ring isn't ...
Will Chen's user avatar
  • 10.7k
13 votes
3 answers
3k views

Zero divisor conjecture and idempotent conjecture

Let $G$ be a torsion-free group and $C$ the ring of complex numbers. The zero divisor (idempotent, resp.) conjecture is that there is no nontrivial zerodivisor (idempotent, resp.) in $CG$. The wiki ...
yeshengkui's user avatar
  • 1,373
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

Galois group of a product of polynomials

How can I compute the Galois group of the polynomial $fg\in K[x]$ assuming that I know the Galois groups of $f\in K[x]$ and $g\in K[x]$? Let's suppose for simplicity that the field $K$ is perfect.
roger123's user avatar
  • 2,782
13 votes
2 answers
1k views

When does a quasicoherent sheaf vanish?

Let $F$ be a quasi-coherent sheaf on a scheme $X$. To check that $F$ vanishes it suffices to check that all the stalks of $F$ vanish. I would like to know whether it suffices to check that all the ...
David Treumann's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
419 views

Is height preserved in a normalization?

Let $R$ be a domain and $\tilde R$ its integral closure in its fraction field: $R\subset \tilde R\subset Frac(R)$. Is it true that a prime ideal $ \tilde {\mathfrak p} \subset \tilde R$ and its ...
Georges Elencwajg's user avatar
12 votes
5 answers
4k views

union of infinitely many prime ideals

Consider a noetherian ring $R$ and a collection $m_i$, $i\in I$ of maximal ideals of $R$. Let $P$ be a prime ideal of $R$. It is well-known that if the collection is finite (i.e. the index set $I$ is ...
Yong Hu's user avatar
  • 620
12 votes
1 answer
1k views

What is a good introduction to cluster algebras from surfaces?

What is a good reference for cluster algebras from surfaces, with a view to their connection to Teichmuller theory? In my view, that means it should start off with unpunctured surfaces (and in fact,...
Hugh Thomas's user avatar
  • 6,282
11 votes
1 answer
949 views

Detailed modern references for basic properties of Pfaffians over commutative rings

Pfaffians are important to algebraic combinatorics, at least. This is to propose the making of a 'wiki' list, more modern, precise and compressed than e.g. the relevant Wikipedia page (nothing against ...
Peter Heinig's user avatar
  • 6,051
11 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is there a relation between Gelfand duality and the spectrum of a ring (with its Zariski topology)?

Compare the following two results: Thm A) Let $A$ be a commutative $C^*$-algebra and let $X$ be its Gelfand spectrum. Gelfand duality says that there's a natural isometric $*$-isomorphism from $A$ to ...
Gabriel's user avatar
  • 711
11 votes
1 answer
339 views

Analogue of conic sections for the permutohedra, associahedra, and noncrossing partitions

Slicing cones in various ways with a plane generates conic sections identified geometrically as hyperbolas, parabolas, or ellipses and algebraically, when suitably rotated, as certain rescaled ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
10 votes
1 answer
410 views

Is $\mathbb{Z}$ universally definable in any number fields other than $\mathbb{Q}$?

In 2009, Jochen Koenigsmann showed that $\mathbb{Z}$ is universally definable in the field $\mathbb{Q}$. My question is, are there any other number fields in which $\mathbb{Z}$ is universally ...
Keshav Srinivasan's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
3k views

Rings with all modules projective ?

Is there a classification of the commutative rings (with unit) such that each module over the ring is projective ?
Ralph's user avatar
  • 16.2k
9 votes
3 answers
752 views

If L is a field extension of K, how big is L*/K*?

Let $K$ be a field and $L$ an extension of $K$. I wonder how much larger the multiplicative group $L^\times$ of $L$ is than the multiplicative group $K^\times$ of $K$. I know that if $L=K(t)$ and $t$ ...
Guntram's user avatar
  • 4,280
9 votes
6 answers
4k views

Differences between reflexives and projectives modules

Let R be a normal noetherian domain. What is the difference between a finitely generated reflexive module and a finitely generated projective module? Can anybody recommend any references or make ...
Hideyuki Kabayakawa's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is an elementary symmetric polynomial an irreducible element in the polynomial ring?

Let $S=\mathbb{C}[x_1,x_2,\dots,x_n]$ be a polynomial ring. Let $e_a$ denotes the elementary symmetric polynomials of degree $a$ in $S$. For $n=2$: $e_1=x_1+x_2$; $e_2=x_1x_2$. For $n=3$: $e_1=x_1+...
Neeraj 's user avatar
  • 446
9 votes
1 answer
509 views

Transcendence degree of the surreals over the subfield generated by the ordinals

Consider the Grothendieck ring $K[\Omega]$ of the semiring $\Omega$ of all ordinals under the operations of natural sum and product. Its quotient field $K(\Omega)$ is naturally a subfield of the ...
Jesse Elliott's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
2k views

Well founded induction attributed to Noether

What I know as well founded induction, namely the rule $$ \big(\forall y.(\forall z.z\lt y\Rightarrow\phi z)\Rightarrow\phi y\big)\Longrightarrow\big(\forall x.\phi x\big), $$ whose validity is the ...
Paul Taylor's user avatar
  • 8,481
9 votes
2 answers
364 views

When $C (X) $ is zero dimensional

Let $X $ be a Tychonoff topological (completely rgular) space and $C (X) $ be the ring of all real valued functions over $X $. When is the krull dimension of $C (X) $ zero?
Azitro Walex's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
746 views

Deligne's exterior power

In "Catégories Tannakiennes", Deligne defines the $n$th exterior power of an object $A$ of an abelian tensor category $\mathcal{C}$ as the image of the morphism $$p : A^{\otimes n} \to A^{\otimes n}, ...
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is the sheaf of smooth functions flat?

Let $X$ be a smooth algebraic variety over $\mathbb{C}$. Is the sheaf of smooth functions on $X$ flat as an $\mathcal{O}_X$ module?
Ying Xie's user avatar
  • 338
8 votes
1 answer
1k views

When does prime elements remain prime in certain integral extension

Let $R$ be an integral domain and $\bar R$ denote its integral closure in the fraction field (i.e. normalization). If $p\in R$ is a prime element in $R$, then does $p$ remain prime in $\bar R$ also ? ...
user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
676 views

Dual of $\mathbb Z^I$ for uncountable $I$

Let $I$ be an infinite set. There is a homomorphism of abelian groups $\mathbb{Z}^{(I)} \to \hom(\mathbb{Z}^I,\mathbb{Z})$ which sends the basis element $e_i$ to the projection $p_i$. If $I$ is ...
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
815 views

Why is $K_{\upsilon}|K$ separable for a global field $K$?

I asked this question on math.stackexchange but maybe it fits here better. If not, I apologize in advance and will remove the question. Let $K$ be a global field and $\upsilon$ a prime of $K$. Then ...
Frida's user avatar
  • 111
6 votes
2 answers
798 views

When does glueing affine schemes produce affine/separated schemes?

Let $X$ be an affine scheme with an open affine subscheme $U\subset X$. Given an automorphism of $U$, we can glue $X$ with itself along $U$ to get a new scheme. Is there a description in terms of ...
user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
1k views

Are epimorphisms from a division ring isomorphisms ?

According to Corollary 1.2(3) of the paper Silver: Noncommutative Localizations and Applications. J. of Alg. 7(1964), 44-67: If $R$ is a (commutative) field and $\alpha: R \to S$ an epimorphism in ...
tj_'s user avatar
  • 2,160
6 votes
1 answer
955 views

Finding all automorphisms of $\mathbb{C}(x,y)$

The group of $\mathbb{C}$-algebra automorphisms of $\mathbb{C}[x,y]$ is well-known, see, for example, the proof of Dicks or the proof of Mckay and Wang. What can be said about the group of $\mathbb{...
user237522's user avatar
  • 2,837
6 votes
0 answers
1k views

Localisation of injectives

When working with injective modules, one bad thing is that they do not necessarily behave well with respect to localisation. Consider a commutative ring $R$ and have a look at the following properties:...
Fred Rohrer's user avatar
  • 6,700
6 votes
2 answers
2k views

Cardinality of maximal linearly independent subset

M a finitely generated module over a commutative ring A. I can't think of an example of two maximal linearly independent subsets of M having different cardinality. I know that they all have the same ...
ashpool's user avatar
  • 2,857
5 votes
1 answer
453 views

an algebraic variety for a boolean circuit

There is a polynomial reduction from a $3-CNF$ $SAT$ problem to some system of polynomial equations over $\mathbb{F}_2$. I mean there is polynomial reduction $F$ such that for every boolean ...
Alexey Milovanov's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Iterated calculation of determinants

Given a $4 \times 4$ matrix $S$ over a commutative ring $R$. I want to consider it as a $2\times 2$ matrix over $M_2(R)$. Lets say $S=\left(\begin{array}{cc} A&B \\\ C&D\end{array}\right)$ ...
HenrikRüping's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
1k views

Ideal generated by two univariate, coprime, integer polynomials

Let $f(x)$, $g(x)$ be two univariate, coprime, integer polynomials and let $I=\big(f(x),g(x)\big)$ the ideal of $\mathbb{Z}[x]$ generated by $f, g$. Let $I \cap \mathbb{Z}$, that is, the elements of $\...
Konstantinos Kanakoglou's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
162 views

Nullstellensatz with nilpotents and $I=J(V(I))$

Let $R$ be the ring $$\mathbb{R}[t_1,t_2\ldots]/(t_1^2,t_2^2,\ldots)$$ Let $p_1,\ldots p_\ell$ be polynomials in $R[x_1,\ldots,x_n]$ whose constant terms are 0. Let $f$ be a polynomial which is zero ...
user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
1k views

Algorithm for the intersection of a vector subspace with a cone of non-negative vectors

Hi, I would like to know whether there is some more effective way of how to compute an intersection of a vector subspace of $\mathbb{R}^{n}$ with a cone of vectors with non-negative entries than the ...
Miroslav Korbelar's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
1k views

local ring all whose non-maximal ideals are finitely generated

Let $(R, \mathfrak m)$ be a commutative local ring such that every non-maximal ideal is finitely generated. Then, is $R$ Noetherian i.e. is $\mathfrak m$ finitely generated ideal ? It is easy to see ...
user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
3k views

optimization of inverse matrix with constraint on matrix elements

everyone! I have this optimization problem with constraint. $D$ and $T$ are symmetric matrices, where T is known and D is the unknown parameter. $x$ and $v$ are two known p-dimensional vectors. The ...
Bing's user avatar
  • 49
4 votes
5 answers
2k views

What properties define open loci in families?

This question is somehow related to the question What properties define open loci in excellent schemes?. Let $f:X\to S$ be a proper (or even projective) morphism between schemes (of finite type over ...
Piotr Achinger's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
467 views

Index of the Hecke algebra with operators omitted

This is a spin-off to the question Omitting primes from a Hecke algebra by David Loeffler. Let $N$ be a positive integer. For a finite set of primes $\Sigma$, let $\mathbb T^{\Sigma}$ be the $\mathbb ...
Olivier's user avatar
  • 10.9k
4 votes
2 answers
369 views

algorithm for finding radical expressions of all conjugates of an arbitrary algebraic number expressed in radicals

By an algebraic number expressed in radicals, I mean one that is an element of a set $S$ characterized as follows: $\mathbb{Z}\subset S$. For any $a,b\in S$, $a+b,a·b\in S$. For $a,b\in S$ with $b\...
Alex Kindel's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
364 views

Values attained by the coheight of $(H \setminus H^\times)^k$ as a function of $H$ and $k$

Edit (Apr 24, 2017). I'm updating this post in the light of the latest developments of a related thread. Let $H$ be a multiplicatively written, commutative monoid, and set $M := H \setminus H^\times$,...
Salvo Tringali's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
8k views

Detection of Redundant Constraints

Suppose I pose the following query to a constraint logic programming system: ?- Y <= 6 - X, Y <= (- 4) + 4 * X, Y <= 4 + X / 3. Are there systems that would recognize the last inequality as ...
user avatar

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