Construction of General Algebras and their Elements

Contents

Construction of a General Algebra

The construction of an algebra depends on its category. The chapters on the individual algebra categories describe this in detail. Here only an overview is given.

Algebra< R, n | Q > : Rng, RngIntElt, SeqEnum -> AlgGen
Let R be ring, n an integer and Q a sequence of n3 elements of R. This function creates an algebra A of dimension n over R with basis e1, ..., en such that Q contains the structure constants of A, i.e. ei * ej = ∑aijk ek, where aijk is the element in position (i - 1) * n2 + (j - 1) * n + k of Q.
AssociativeAlgebra< R, n | Q > : Rng, RngIntElt, SeqEnum -> AlgAss
    Check: BoolElt                      Default: true
This function creates the associative structure constant algebra A as returned by Algebra< R, n | Q >. By default, the algebra is checked on associativity, but this can be avoided by setting Check := false. The returned algebra is of type AlgAss.
QuaternionAlgebra< K | a, b > : Rng, RngElt, RngElt -> AlgQuat
This function creates the quaternion algebra A over the field K on generators x and y with relations x2 = a, y2 = b, and xy = - yx.
LieAlgebra< R, n | Q > : Rng, RngIntElt, SeqEnum -> AlgLie
    Check: BoolElt                      Default: true
This function creates the Lie structure constant algebra A as returned by Algebra< R, n | Q >. By default, the algebra is checked to be a Lie algebra, but this can be avoided by setting Check := false. The returned algebra is of type AlgLie.
LieAlgebra(A) : AlgAss -> AlgLie
Given an associative algebra A, create the Lie algebra generated by the elements in L using the induced Lie product (x, y) -> x * y - y * x.
GroupAlgebra(R, G) : Rng, Grp -> AlgGrp
Given a ring R and a group G construct the group algebra R[G] of dimension |G| over R.
MatrixAlgebra(R, n) : Rng, RngInt -> AlgMat
Given a positive integer n and a ring R, create the full matrix algebra Mn(R) of dimension n2 over R.

Construction of an Element of a General Algebra

The construction of a generic element of an algebra varies for the different types of algebras and is therefore explained in the corresponding chapters.

Zero(A) : AlgGen -> AlgGenElt
A ! 0 : AlgGen, RngIntElt -> AlgGenElt
Create the zero element of the algebra A.
One(A) : AlgGen -> AlgGenElt
A ! 1 : AlgGen, RngIntElt -> AlgGenElt
If it exists, create the identity element of the algebra A; otherwise an error occurs.
Random(A) : AlgGen -> AlgGenElt
Given an algebra A defined over a finite ring, return a random element.
V2.28, 13 July 2023