English

On cyclic invariants of the free associative algebra

Rings and Algebras 2026-02-19 v1

Abstract

Let KXdK\langle X_d\rangle be the free associative algebra of rank d2d \geq 2 over a field KK. Lane in 1976 and Kharchenko in 1978 proved that the algebra of invariants KXdGK\langle X_d\rangle^G is free for any subgroup GGLd(K)G \leq \text{GL}_d(K) and any field KK. Later, Kharchenko introduced an additional action of the symmetric group Sym(n)\text{Sym}(n) on the homogeneous component of degree nn of KXdK\langle X_d\rangle, given by permuting the positions of the variables. This equips KXdK\langle X_d\rangle with the structure of a (KXd,)(K\langle X_d\rangle,\circ)-SS-algebra. Then Koryukin showed that the algebra of invariants KXdGK\langle X_d\rangle^G is finitely generated for every reductive group GG with respect to this action. In our paper we study the algebra Kx1,,xdCdK\langle x_1,\ldots,x_d\rangle^{C_d} of invariants of the cyclic group CdC_d, d2d\geq 2, where KK is an arbitrary field of characteristic 0. We compute the Hilbert series of Kx1,,xdCdK\langle x_1,\ldots,x_d \rangle^{C_d}. When K=CK=\mathbb C we find a vector space basis of Cx1,,xdCd{\mathbb C}\langle x_1,\ldots,x_d \rangle^{C_d} and explicitly describe the generators of Cx1,,xdCd{\mathbb C}\langle x_1,\ldots,x_d \rangle^{C_d} as a free algebra. Moreover, we describe a finite generating set for the SS-algebra (Cx1,,xdCd,)({\mathbb C}\langle x_1,\ldots,x_d \rangle^{C_d},\circ). We also transfer the results for K=CK=\mathbb C to the case of an arbitrary field of characteristic 0 for the SS-algebra (Kx1,x2,x3C3,)(K\langle x_1,x_2,x_3 \rangle^{C_3},\circ) and find a minimal generating set for it as an SS-algebra.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.16202,
  title  = {On cyclic invariants of the free associative algebra},
  author = {Silvia Boumova and Vesselin Drensky},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.16202},
  year   = {2026}
}