English

Proof of Cayley-Hamilton theorem using polynomials over the algebra of module endomorphisms

History and Overview 2022-03-30 v2 Commutative Algebra

Abstract

If RR is a commutative unital ring and MM is a unital RR-module, then each element of EndR(M)\operatorname{End}_R(M) determines a left EndR(M)[X]\operatorname{End}_{R}(M)[X]-module structure on EndR(M)\operatorname{End}_{R}(M), where EndR(M)\operatorname{End}_{R}(M) is the RR-algebra of endomorphisms of MM and EndR(M)[X]=EndR(M)RR[X]\operatorname{End}_{R}(M)[X] =\operatorname{End}_{R}(M)\otimes_RR[X]. These structures provide a very short proof of the Cayley-Hamilton theorem, which may be viewed as a reformulation of the proof in Algebra by Serge Lang. Some generalisations of the Cayley-Hamilton theorem can be easily proved using the proposed method.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2105.09285,
  title  = {Proof of Cayley-Hamilton theorem using polynomials over the algebra of module endomorphisms},
  author = {Alexey Muranov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.09285},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

v2: 4 pages. v1: 3 pages