Algebras generated by two idempotents

It is shown that a noncommutative simple algebra generated over a field F by two idempotents is necessarily the ring of 2×2 matrices over a simple extension of F, and that every matrix ring over a field K can be generated over K by three idempotents.     

K1 of noncommutative von Neumann regular rings

If R is any (noncommutative, von Neumann) regular ring with 2 invertible, then K₁ of the free (noncommuting) R-algebra on a set X is canonically isomorphic to K₁(R). If R is unit-regular, then K₁(R) is just the abelianization of the group of units of R. Some examples are computed.     

Makar-Limanov's conjecture on free subalgebras

It is proved that over every countable field K there is a nil algebra R such that the algebra obtained from R by extending the field K contains noncommutative free subalgebras of arbitrarily high rank.It is also shown that over every countable field K there is an algebra R without noncommutative free subalgebras of rank two such that the algebra obtained from R by extending the field K contains a noncommutative free subalgebra of rank two. This answers a question of Makar-Limanov [Lenny Makar-Limanov, private communication, Beijing, June 2007].     

Witt vectors and K-theory of automorphisms via noncommutative motives

We prove that the functor ring-of-rational-Witt-vectors W ₀(?) becomes co-representable in the category of noncommutative motives. As an application, we obtain an immediate extension of W ₀(?) from commutative rings to schemes. Then, making use of the theory of noncommutative motives, we classify all natural transformations of the functor K-theory-of-automorphisms.     

On the Poincaré isomorphism in <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>-theory on manifolds with edges

In this paper, the Poincaré isomorphism in K-theory on manifolds with edges is constructed. It is shown that the Poincaré isomorphism can be naturally constructed in terms of noncommutative geometry. More precisely, we obtain a correspondence between a manifold with edges and a noncommutative algebra and establish an isomorphism between the K-group of this algebra and the K-homology group of the manifold with edges, which is considered as a compact topological space.     

Wedderburn polynomials over division rings, I

A Wedderburn polynomial over a division ring K is a minimal polynomial of an algebraic subset of K. Such a polynomial is always a product of linear factors over K, although not every product of linear polynomials is a Wedderburn polynomial. In this paper, we establish various properties and characterizations of Wedderburn polynomials over K, and show that these polynomials form a complete modular lattice that is dual to the lattice of full algebraic subsets of K. Throughout the paper, we work in the general setting of an Ore skew polynomial ring K[t,S,D], where S is an endomorphism of K and D is an S-derivation on K.     

Finite rings in which commutativity is transitive

A ring is called commutative transitive if commutativity is a transitive relation on its nonzero elements. Likewise, it is weakly commutative transitive (wCT) if commutativity is a transitive relation on its noncentral elements. The main topic of this paper is to describe the structure of finite wCT rings. It is shown that every such ring is a direct sum of an indecomposable noncommutative wCT ring of prime power order, and a commutative ring. Furthermore, finite indecomposable wCT rings are either two-by-two matrices over fields, local rings, or basic rings with two maximal ideals. We characterize finite local rings as generalized skew polynomial rings over coefficient Galois rings; the associated automorphisms of the Galois ring give rise to a signature of the local ring. These are then used to further describe the structure of finite local and wCT basic rings.     

Generic noncommutative surfaces

We study a class of noncommutative surfaces, and their higher dimensional analogs, which come from generic subalgebras of twisted homogeneous coordinate rings of projective space. Such rings provide answers to several open questions in noncommutative projective geometry. Specifically, these rings R are the first known graded algebras over a field k which are noetherian but not strongly noetherian: in other words, R⊗_kB is not noetherian for some choice of commutative noetherian extension ring B. This answers a question of Artin, Small, and Zhang. The rings R are also maximal orders, but they do not satisfy all of the χ conditions of Artin and Zhang. In particular, they satisfy the χ₁ condition but not χ_i for i?2, answering a question of Stafford and Zhang and a question of Stafford and Van den Bergh. Finally, we show that the noncommutative scheme R-proj has finite global dimension.     

Isomorphisms of Certain Locally Nilpotent Finitary Groups and Associated Rings

For any chain Γ the ring NT(Γ,K) of all finitary Γ-matrices ‖a _ij ‖ _i,jεΓ over an associative ring K with zeros on and above the main diagonal is locally nilpotent and hence radical. If R′=NT(Γ′,K′),R=NT(Γ,K) and either |Γ|<∞ or K is a ring with no zero-divisors, then isomorphisms between rings R and R′, their adjoint groups and associated Lie rings are described.     

Higher algebraic K-groups and {\mathcal D}-split sequences

In this paper, we use ${\mathcal D}$ -split sequences and derived equivalences to provide formulas for calculation of higher algebraic K-groups (or mod-p K-groups) of certain matrix subrings which occur both in commutative algebra as the endomorphism rings of direct sums of Prüfer modules or of chains of Glaz–Vasconcelos ideals and in noncommutative geometry as an essential ingredient of the study of singularities of orders over surfaces. In our results, we do not assume any homological requirements on rings and ideals under investigation, and therefore extend sharply many existing results of this type in the algebraic K-theory literature to a more general context.     

On normal integral bases of unramified abelian p-extensions over a global function field of characteristic p

Let K be an algebraic function field of one variable over a finite field of characteristic p, and S a finite non-empty set of prime divisors of K. As the ring of integers of K, we take the ring of elements of K integral outside S. We prove that for a finite abelian p-extension L/K, it has a relative normal integral basis (NIB) if and only if it is unramified outside S. We also give a generator of NIB in an explicit form.     

Periodic Cyclic Homology as Sheaf Cohomology Dedicated to Daniel Quillen on his 60th Birthday

We study a noncommutative version of the infinitesimal site of Grothendieck. A theorem of Grothendieck establishes that the cohomology of the structure sheaf on the infinitesimal topology of a scheme of characteristic zero is de Rham cohomology. We prove that, for the noncommutative infinitesimal topology of an associative algebra over a field of characteristic zero, the cohomology of the structure sheaf modulo commutators is periodic cyclic cohomology. We also compute the noncommutative infinitesimal cohomology of other sheaves. For example, we show that infinitesimal hypercohomology with coefficients in K-theory gives the fiber of the Jones–Goodwillie character which goes from K-theory to negative cyclic homology.     

Strong cleanness of generalized matrix rings over a local ring

Let K_s(R) be the generalized matrix ring over a ring R with multiplier s. For a general local ring R and a central element s in the Jacobson radical of R, necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for K_s(R) to be a strongly clean ring. For a commutative local ring R and an arbitrary element s in R, criteria are obtained for a single element of K_s(R) to be strongly clean and, respectively, for the ring K_s(R) to be strongly clean. Specializing to s = 1 yields some known results. New families of strongly clean rings are presented.     

Von Neumann finite endomorphism rings

Let K be a field of characteristic zero, G a group acting on a nonempty set X and KX the permutation module induced by this action. By studying traces of idempotents, we prove that the endomorphism ring End_K[G](KX) is von Neumann finite under certain conditions for the action of G on X. This generalizes a classical result by Kaplansky for the group ring of G over K.     

Adelic openness for Drinfeld modules in generic characteristic

Let φ be a Drinfeld A-module of arbitrary rank and generic characteristic over a finitely generated field K. If the endomorphism ring of φ over an algebraic closure of K is equal to A, we prove that the image of the adelic Galois representation associated to φ is open.     

On a generalization of Albert’s theorem

It is proved by A. A. Albert that in an ordered division ring, any element algebraic over the center is central. In this paper, we shall investigate the following problem. LetD be an ordered division ring. Suppose every element inD is left algebraic over a maximal subfieldK. Does it follow thatD=K? We prove that the answers are affirmative in some cases.     

An elementary proof that rationally isometric quadratic forms are isometric

Let R be a valuation ring with fraction field K and 2 ∈ R ^×. We give an elementary proof of the following known result: two unimodular quadratic forms over R are isometric over K if and only if they are isometric over R. Our proof does not use cancelation of quadratic forms and yields an explicit algorithm to construct an isometry over R from a given isometry over K. The statement actually holds for hermitian forms over valuated involutary division rings, provided mild assumptions.     

Semigroups of matrices of intermediate growth

Finitely generated linear semigroups over a field K that have intermediate growth are considered. New classes of such semigroups are found and a conjecture on the equivalence of the subexponential growth of a finitely generated linear semigroup S and the nonexistence of free noncommutative subsemigroups in S, or equivalently the existence of a nontrivial identity satisfied in S, is stated. This ‘growth alternative’ conjecture is proved for linear semigroups of degree 2, 3 or 4. Certain results supporting the general conjecture are obtained. As the main tool, a new combinatorial property of groups is introduced and studied.     

Witt’s Theorem for Noncommutative Conic Curves

Let k be a field. We extend the main result in Nyman (J. Algebra 434, 90–114, 2015) to show that all homogeneous noncommutative curves of genus zero over k are noncommutative \(\mathbb {P}^{1}\)-bundles over a (possibly) noncommutative base. Using this result, we compute complete isomorphism invariants of homogeneous noncommutative curves of genus zero, allowing us to generalize a theorem of Witt.