Group ring

In algebra, a group ring is a free module and at the same time a ring, constructed in a natural way from any given ring and any given group. As a free module, its ring of scalars is the given ring, and its basis is one-to-one with the given group. As a ring, its addition law is that of the free module and its multiplication extends "by linearity" the given group law on the basis. Less formally, a group ring is a generalization of a given group, by attaching to each element of the group a "weighting factor" from a given ring.
If the ring is commutative then the group ring is also referred to as a group algebra, for it is indeed an algebra over the given ring. A group algebra over a field has a further structure of a Hopf algebra; in this case, it is thus called a group Hopf algebra.
The apparatus of group rings is especially useful in the theory of group representations.
Definition.
Let "G" be a group, written multiplicatively, and let "R" be a ring. The group ring of "G" over "R", which we will denote by "R"["G"] (or simply "RG"), is the set of mappings of finite support, where the module scalar product "αf" of a scalar "α" in "R" and a vector (or mapping) "f" is defined as the vector formula_1, and the module group sum of two vectors "f" and "g" is defined as the vector formula_2. To turn the additive group "R"["G"] into a ring, we define the product of "f" and "g" to be the vector
The summation is legitimate because "f" and "g" are of finite support, and the ring axioms are readily verified.
Some variations in the notation and terminology are in use. In particular, the mappings such as are sometimes written as what are called "formal linear combinations of elements of "G", with coefficients in "R"":
or simply
where this doesn't cause confusion.
Examples.
1. Let , the cyclic group of order 3, with generator formula_6 and identity element 1"G". An element "r" of C["G"] can be written as
where "z"0, "z"1 and "z"2 are in C, the complex numbers. This is the same thing as a polynomial ring in variable formula_6 such that formula_9 i.e. C["G"] is isomorphic to the ring C[formula_6]/formula_11.
Writing a different element "s" as formula_12, their sum is
and their product is
Notice that the identity element 1"G" of "G" induces a canonical embedding of the coefficient ring (in this case C) into C["G"]; however strictly speaking the multiplicative identity element of C["G"] is 1⋅1"G" where the first "1" comes from C and the second from "G". The additive identity element is zero.
When "G" is a non-commutative group, one must be careful to preserve the order of the group elements (and not accidentally commute them) when multiplying the terms.
2. A different example is that of the Laurent polynomials over a ring "R": these are nothing more or less than the group ring of the infinite cyclic group Z over "R".
3. Let "Q" be the quaternion group with elements formula_15. Consider the group ring R"Q", where R is the set of real numbers. An arbitrary element of this group ring is of the form
where formula_17 is a real number.
Multiplication, like in any other group ring, is defined based on the group operation. For example,
Note that RQ" is not the same as the Hamilton quaternions over R. This is because the Hamilton quaternions satisfy additional relations in the ring, such as formula_19, whereas in the group ring RQ", formula_20 is not equal to formula_21. To be more specific, R"Q" has dimension 8 as a real vector space, while the Hamilton quaternions have dimension 4 as a real vector space.
4. Another example of a non-abelian group ring is formula_22 where formula_23 is the symmetric group on 3 letters. This is not an integral domain since we have formula_24 where the element formula_25 is a transposition-a permutation which only swaps 1 and 2. Therefore the group ring need not be an integral domain even when the underlying ring is an integral domain.
Some basic properties.
Using 1 to denote the multiplicative identity of the ring "R", and denoting the group unit by 1"G", the ring "R"["G"] contains a subring isomorphic to "R", and its group of invertible elements contains a subgroup isomorphic to "G". For considering the indicator function of {1"G"}, which is the vector "f" defined by
the set of all scalar multiples of "f" is a subring of "R"["G"] isomorphic to "R". And if we map each element "s" of "G" to the indicator function of {"s"}, which is the vector "f" defined by
the resulting mapping is an injective group homomorphism (with respect to multiplication, not addition, in "R"["G"]).
If "R" and "G" are both commutative (i.e., "R" is commutative and "G" is an abelian group), "R"["G"] is commutative.
If "H" is a subgroup of "G", then "R"["H"] is a subring of "R"["G"]. Similarly, if "S" is a subring of "R", "S"["G"] is a subring of "R"["G"].
If "G" is a finite group of order greater than 1, then "R"["G"] always has zero divisors. For example, consider an element "g" of "G" of order |"g"| = m > 1. Then 1 - "g" is a zero divisor:
For example, consider the group ring Z["S"3] and the element of order 3 "g"=(123). In this case,
A related result: If the group ring formula_30 is prime, then "G" has no nonidentity finite normal subgroup (in particular, "G" must be infinite).
Proof: Considering the contrapositive, suppose formula_31 is a nonidentity finite normal subgroup of formula_32. Take formula_33. Since formula_34 for any formula_35, we know formula_36, therefore formula_37. Taking formula_38, we have formula_39. By normality of formula_31, formula_41 commutes with a basis of formula_30, and therefore
And we see that formula_44 are not zero, which shows formula_30 is not prime. This shows the original statement.
Group algebra over a finite group.
Group algebras occur naturally in the theory of group representations of finite groups. The group algebra "K"["G"] over a field "K" is essentially the group ring, with the field "K" taking the place of the ring. As a set and vector space, it is the free vector space on "G" over the field "K". That is, for "x" in "K"["G"],
The algebra structure on the vector space is defined using the multiplication in the group:
where on the left, "g" and "h" indicate elements of the group algebra, while the multiplication on the right is the group operation (denoted by juxtaposition).
Because the above multiplication can be confusing, one can also write the basis vectors of "K"["G"] as "e""g" (instead of "g"), in which case the multiplication is written as:
Interpretation as functions.
Thinking of the free vector space as "K"-valued functions on "G", the algebra multiplication is convolution of functions.
While the group algebra of a "finite" group can be identified with the space of functions on the group, for an infinite group these are different. The group algebra, consisting of "finite" sums, corresponds to functions on the group that vanish for cofinitely many points; topologically (using the discrete topology), these correspond to functions with compact support.
However, the group algebra "K"["G"] and the space of functions are dual: given an element of the group algebra
and a function on the group these pair to give an element of "K" via
which is a well-defined sum because it is finite.
Representations of a group algebra.
Taking "K"["G"] to be an abstract algebra, one may ask for representations of the algebra acting on a "K-"vector space "V" of dimension "d". Such a representation
is an algebra homomorphism from the group algebra to the algebra of endomorphisms of "V", which is isomorphic to the ring of "d × d" matrices: formula_52. Equivalently, this is a left "K"["G"]-module over the abelian group "V".
Correspondingly, a group representation
is a group homomorphism from "G" to the group of linear automorphisms of "V", which is isomorphic to the general linear group of invertible matrices: formula_54. Any such representation induces an algebra representation
simply by letting formula_56 and extending linearly. Thus, representations of the group correspond exactly to representations of the algebra, and the two theories are essentially equivalent.
Regular representation.
The group algebra is an algebra over itself; under the correspondence of representations over "R" and "R"["G"] modules, it is the regular representation of the group.
Written as a representation, it is the representation "g" "ρ""g" with the action given by formula_57, or
Semisimple decomposition.
The dimension of the vector space "K"["G"] is just equal to the number of elements in the group. The field "K" is commonly taken to be the complex numbers C or the reals R, so that one discusses the group algebras C["G"] or R["G"].
The group algebra C["G"] of a finite group over the complex numbers is a semisimple ring. This result, Maschke's theorem, allows us to understand C["G"] as a finite product of matrix rings with entries in C. Indeed, if we list the complex irreducible representations of "G" as "Vk" for "k" = 1, . . . , "m", these correspond to group homomorphisms formula_59 and hence to algebra homomorphisms formula_60. Assembling these mappings gives an algebra isomorphismformula_61where "dk" is the dimension of "Vk". The subalgebra of C["G"] corresponding to End("Vk") is the two-sided ideal generated by the idempotent formula_62where formula_63 is the character of "Vk". These form a complete system of orthogonal idempotents, so that formula_64, formula_65 for "j ≠ k", and formula_66. The isomorphism formula_67 is closely related to Fourier transform on finite groups.
For a more general field "K," whenever the characteristic of "K" does not divide the order of the group "G", then "K"["G"] is semisimple. When "G" is a finite abelian group, the group ring "K"[G] is commutative, and its structure is easy to express in terms of roots of unity.
When "K" is a field of characteristic "p" which divides the order of "G", the group ring is "not" semisimple: it has a non-zero Jacobson radical, and this gives the corresponding subject of modular representation theory its own, deeper character.
Center of a group algebra.
The center of the group algebra is the set of elements that commute with all elements of the group algebra:
The center is equal to the set of class functions, that is the set of elements that are constant on each conjugacy class
If , the set of irreducible characters of "G" forms an orthonormal basis of Z("K"["G"]) with respect to the inner product
Group rings over an infinite group.
Much less is known in the case where "G" is countably infinite, or uncountable, and this is an area of active research. The case where "R" is the field of complex numbers is probably the one best studied. In this case, Irving Kaplansky proved that if "a" and "b" are elements of C["G"] with , then . Whether this is true if "R" is a field of positive characteristic remains unknown.
A long-standing conjecture of Kaplansky (~1940) says that if "G" is a torsion-free group, and "K" is a field, then the group ring "K"["G"] has no non-trivial zero divisors. This conjecture is equivalent to "K"["G"] having no non-trivial nilpotents under the same hypotheses for "K" and "G".
In fact, the condition that "K" is a field can be relaxed to any ring that can be embedded into an integral domain.
The conjecture remains open in full generality, however some special cases of torsion-free groups have been shown to satisfy the zero divisor conjecture. These include:
The case of "G" being a topological group is discussed in greater detail in the article group algebra of a locally compact group.
Category theory.
Adjoint.
Categorically, the group ring construction is left adjoint to "group of units"; the following functors are an adjoint pair:
where formula_73 takes a group to its group ring over "R", and formula_74 takes an "R"-algebra to its group of units.
When , this gives an adjunction between the category of groups and the category of rings, and the unit of the adjunction takes a group "G" to a group that contains trivial units: In general, group rings contain nontrivial units. If "G" contains elements "a" and "b" such that formula_75 and "b" does not normalize formula_76 then the square of
is zero, hence formula_78. The element is a unit of infinite order.
Universal Property.
The above adjunction expresses a universal property of group rings. Let be a (commutative) ring, let be a group, and let be an -algebra. For any group homomorphism formula_79, there exists a unique -algebra homomorphism formula_80 such that formula_81 where is the inclusion
In other words, formula_83 is the unique homomorphism making the following diagram commute:
Any other ring satisfying this property is canonically isomorphic to the group ring.
Hopf algebra.
The group algebra "K"["G"] has a natural structure of a Hopf algebra. The comultiplication is defined by formula_84, extended linearly, and the antipode is formula_85, again extended linearly.
Generalizations.
The group algebra generalizes to the monoid ring and thence to the category algebra, of which another example is the incidence algebra.
Filtration.
If a group has a length function – for example, if there is a choice of generators and one takes the word metric, as in Coxeter groups – then the group ring becomes a filtered algebra.