QUALS
JEFFREY STRACHAN
(1) Prove that every group of size 45 is abelian.
Definition 0.1. The element gng − 1 is called the conjugate of n ∈ N by g.
The set gN g −1 = {gng −1 |n ∈ N } is called the conjugate of N by g. The
element g is said to normalize N if gN g −1 = N . A subgroup N of a group
G is called normal if every element of G normalizes N , i.e., if gN g −1 = N
for all g ∈ G. If N is a normal subgroup of G we shall write N ⊴ G.
Definition 0.2. Let G be finite and |G| = pn · m, where p is prime, n ≥ 1
and gcd(p, m) = 1.
• A Sylow p-subgroup of G is a subgroup of order pn (The largest possible
power of p dividing |G|)
Theorem 0.3 (Sylow’s Theorem). Let G be a group of order pα m, where
p is a prime not dividing m.
1 Sylow p-subgroups of G exist, i.e., Sylp (G) ̸= ∅.
2 If P is a Sylow p-subgroup of G and Q is any p-subgroup of G, then
there exists g ∈ G such that Q ≤ gP g −1 , i.e., Q is contained in some
conjugate of P . In particular, any two Sylow p-subgroups of G are
conjugate in G.
3 The number of Sylow p-subgroups of G is of the form 1 + kp, i.e. ,
np ≡ 1(mod p). Further, nP is the index in G of the normalizer
NG ⊂ (P ) for any Sylow p-subgroup P , hence np divides m.
Proof. Step 1 Show the Sylow-3 and Sylow-5 subgroups are normal
Let G be a group with |G| = 45 = 32 · 5. Let n3 denote the number of
Sylow-3 subgroups of G. By the third Sylow theorem,
n3 |5 and n3 ≡ 1 mod 3
Since 5 ̸≡ 1 mod 3, n3 = 1. Thus the unique Sylow–3 subgroup P of G is
normal. Likewise let n5 denote the number of Sylow-5 subgroups. Then
n5 |9 and n5 ≡ 1 mod 5,
which forces n5 = 1. Hence the unique Sylow-5 subgroup Q of G is also
normal. Since P ⊴ G. The product P Q is a subgroup of [Link] Lagrange’s
theorem,
|P ||Q|
|P Q| =
|P ∩ Q|
Because |P | = 9 and |Q| = 5 are relatively prime, we have P ∩ Q = {e} and
therefore |P Q| = 45. Hence P Q = G.
Now let x ∈ P and y ∈ Q. Since P is normal xyx−1 ∈ P , Since Q is normal
xyx−1 ∈ Q. Therefore xyx−1 ∈ P ∩ Q = {e} which implies xy = yx. □
1
2 JEFFREY STRACHAN
(2) In this question, g is a non-zero, finite-dimensional Lie algebra over C.
(a) Define the Killing form on g. (b) Characterize semisimplicity for g in
terms of the Killing form. (c) The Lie algebra g is nilpotent if its lower
central series terminates at 0. Show that the Killing form of a nilpotent Lie
algebra is zero. (d) Exhibit a 2-dimensional g that is neither semisimple
nor nilpotent.
Definition 0.4. Let F be a field. A Lie algebra over F is a vector space g
together with a map
[·, ·] : g × g → g
called the Lie bracket such that for all x, y, z ∈ g:
1. Bilinearity
[ax + by, z] = a[x, z] + b[y, z],
[x, ay + bz] = a[x, y] + b[x, z],
for all scalars a, b ∈ F .
2. Antisemitry(skew symmetry)
[x, y] = −[y, x]
. In particular if the charastic of F is not 2 then
[x, x] = 0
3. Jacobi Identity
[x, [y, z]] + [y, [z, x]] + [z, [x, y]] = 0
(a) Let g be a finite dimensional Lie algebra over C. For each x ∈ G define
the adjoint map
adx : g → g adx (y) = [x, y]
The Killing form is the symmetric bilinear form
B :g×g→g
defined by
B(x, y) = T r[adx ◦ ady ]
It satisfies bilinearity, symmetry and invariance.
(b) The fundamental criterion is Cartan’s Criterion.
Theorem 0.5. A finite-dimensional Lie algebra g over a field of char-
acteristic 0 is semisimple if and only if its Killing form is nondegen-
erate. Equivalently
g is semisimple ⇐⇒ ker B = {0}
since g is finite dimensional
(c) If g is nilpotent, Engel’s theorem implies every adx is strictly upper
triangular, so every product adx , ady has trace 0. Hence the killing
form is identically zero.
(d) The Lie algebra of traceless uppper-triangular 2-by-2 matrices has a
Killing form of rank 1. (Its kernel is the 1-dimensional subalgebra of
diagonal, traceless matrices.)
QUALS 3
(3) ) Let G be a non-abelian group of order 12. Show that G has either 4 or 6 ir-
reducible complex representations, and show that both of these possibilities
do occur.
Definition 0.6. Let G be a group and let V be a vector space over a field
F . A representation of G on V is a group homomorphisim
ρ : G → GL(V )
where GL(V ) is the group of invertible linear transformations.
Definition 0.7. The representation (V, ρ) is irreducible if the only G−
invarient subspaces are {0} and V .
Theorem 0.8. The number of irreducible complex representations of a
finite group equals the number of conjugacy classes of the group.
Proof. Let ρ1 , . . . , ρk be the irreducible representations of G, with dimen-
sions d1 . . . , dk (Say d1 = 1 for the trivial representation). The basic dimen-
sion formula gives
Xk
d2i = |G| = 12
i=1
Since every d2i ≤ 12, we get di ≤ 3 for every i, so each di ∈ {1, 2, 3}. Let
m1 , m2 , m3 be the number of irreducibles of dimensions 1,2,3 respectively.
Then
k = m1 + m2 + m3 , m1 + 4m2 + 9m3 = 12
The one dimensional representations correspond to homomorphisims
G → C×
so their number is |G/G′ | where G′ = [G, G] is the commuter subgroup.
Because G is non-ablelian G/G′ is a proper quotient of G. Hence |G/G′ | ∈
{1, 2, 3, 4, 6}. Check each allowed value of m1 :
• m1 = 1:4m2 + 9m3 = 11 no non-negative integer solution
• m1 = 2:4m2 + 9m3 = 10 no solution.
• m1 = 3:4m2 +9m3 = 9 =⇒ (m2 , m3 ) = (0, 1). Then k = 3+0+1 = 4.
• m1 = 4:4m2 +9m3 = 8 =⇒ (m2 , m3 ) = (2, 0). Then k = 4+2+0 = 6.
• m1 = 6: 4m2 + 9m3 = 6-no solution.
There are either 4 or 6 irreducible representations whose dimensions are
either (3, 1, 1, 1), (2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1) respectively. Finally both possibilities occur
• A4 has 4 irreducible complex representations.
• D6 has 6 irreducible complex representations. □
(4) Let k be a field. Let K/k be a finite separable extension, and L/k be an
arbitrary extension. Prove that the commutative k-algebra K ⊗k L splits
as a finite product of finite separable extensions of L. Hint. You may find
it useful to apply the theorem of the primitive element.
Definition 0.9. A field extension L/K is finite separable if:
• L is a finite dimensional vector space over K. (i.e [L : K] < ∞)
• Every element α ∈ L is seperable over K.(i.e the minimal polynomial
of α over K has no repeated roots in its splitting field)
4 JEFFREY STRACHAN
Definition 0.10. Let k be a field. A commutative k-algebra is a commu-
tative ring A equipped with a ring homorphism:
ϕ:k→A