The Structure of Frobenius Algebras and Separable Algebras

We present a unified approach to the study of separable and Frobenius algebras. The crucial observation is that both types of algebras are related to the nonlinear equation R¹²R²³=R²³R¹³=R¹³R¹², called the FS-equation. Solutions of the FS-equation automatically satisfy the braid equation, an equation that is in a sense equivalent to the quantum Yang–Baxter equation. Given a solution to the FS-equation satisfying a certain normalizing condition, we can construct a Frobenius algebra or a separable algebra A(R) – the normalizing condition is different in both cases. The main result of this paper is the structure of these two fundamental types of algebras: a finite dimensional Frobenius or separable k-algebra A is isomorphic to such an A(R). A(R) can be described using generators and relations. A new characterization of Frobenius extensions is given: B A is Frobenius if and only if A has a B-coring structure (A, , ) such that the comultiplication : A A_B A is an A-bimodule map.