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Polynomial Functor
In algebra, a polynomial functor is an endofunctor on the category \mathcal of finite-dimensional vector spaces that depends polynomially on vector spaces. For example, the symmetric powers V \mapsto \operatorname^n(V) and the exterior powers V \mapsto \wedge^n(V) are polynomial functors from \mathcal to \mathcal; these two are also Schur functors. The notion appears in representation theory as well as category theory (the calculus of functors). In particular, the category of homogeneous polynomial functors of degree ''n'' is equivalent to the category of finite-dimensional representations of the symmetric group S_n over a field of characteristic zero. Definition Let ''k'' be a field of characteristic zero and \mathcal the category of finite-dimensional ''k''-vector spaces and ''k''-linear maps. Then an endofunctor F\colon \mathcal \to \mathcal is a ''polynomial functor'' if the following equivalent conditions hold: *For every pair of vector spaces ''X'', ''Y'' in \mathcal, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endofunctor
In mathematics, specifically category theory, a functor is a mapping between categories. Functors were first considered in algebraic topology, where algebraic objects (such as the fundamental group) are associated to topological spaces, and maps between these algebraic objects are associated to continuous maps between spaces. Nowadays, functors are used throughout modern mathematics to relate various categories. Thus, functors are important in all areas within mathematics to which category theory is applied. The words ''category'' and ''functor'' were borrowed by mathematicians from the philosophers Aristotle and Rudolf Carnap, respectively. The latter used ''functor'' in a linguistic context; see function word. Definition Let ''C'' and ''D'' be categories. A functor ''F'' from ''C'' to ''D'' is a mapping that * associates each object X in ''C'' to an object F(X) in ''D'', * associates each morphism f \colon X \to Y in ''C'' to a morphism F(f) \colon F(X) \to F(Y) in ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Field (mathematics)
In mathematics, a field is a set on which addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are defined and behave as the corresponding operations on rational and real numbers do. A field is thus a fundamental algebraic structure which is widely used in algebra, number theory, and many other areas of mathematics. The best known fields are the field of rational numbers, the field of real numbers and the field of complex numbers. Many other fields, such as fields of rational functions, algebraic function fields, algebraic number fields, and ''p''-adic fields are commonly used and studied in mathematics, particularly in number theory and algebraic geometry. Most cryptographic protocols rely on finite fields, i.e., fields with finitely many elements. The relation of two fields is expressed by the notion of a field extension. Galois theory, initiated by Évariste Galois in the 1830s, is devoted to understanding the symmetries of field extensions. Among other results, thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homogeneous Function
In mathematics, a homogeneous function is a function of several variables such that, if all its arguments are multiplied by a scalar, then its value is multiplied by some power of this scalar, called the degree of homogeneity, or simply the ''degree''; that is, if is an integer, a function of variables is homogeneous of degree if :f(sx_1,\ldots, sx_n)=s^k f(x_1,\ldots, x_n) for every x_1, \ldots, x_n, and s\ne 0. For example, a homogeneous polynomial of degree defines a homogeneous function of degree . The above definition extends to functions whose domain and codomain are vector spaces over a field : a function f : V \to W between two -vector spaces is ''homogeneous'' of degree k if for all nonzero s \in F and v \in V. This definition is often further generalized to functions whose domain is not , but a cone in , that is, a subset of such that \mathbf\in C implies s\mathbf\in C for every nonzero scalar . In the case of functions of several real variables and real vecto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coefficient
In mathematics, a coefficient is a multiplicative factor in some term of a polynomial, a series, or an expression; it is usually a number, but may be any expression (including variables such as , and ). When the coefficients are themselves variables, they may also be called parameters. For example, the polynomial 2x^2-x+3 has coefficients 2, −1, and 3, and the powers of the variable x in the polynomial ax^2+bx+c have coefficient parameters a, b, and c. The constant coefficient is the coefficient not attached to variables in an expression. For example, the constant coefficients of the expressions above are the number 3 and the parameter ''c'', respectively. The coefficient attached to the highest degree of the variable in a polynomial is referred to as the leading coefficient. For example, in the expressions above, the leading coefficients are 2 and ''a'', respectively. Terminology and definition In mathematics, a coefficient is a multiplicative factor in some term of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polynomial Mapping
In algebra, a polynomial map or polynomial mapping P: V \to W between vector spaces over an infinite field ''k'' is a polynomial in linear functionals with coefficients in ''k''; i.e., it can be written as :P(v) = \sum_ \lambda_(v) \cdots \lambda_(v) w_ where the \lambda_: V \to k are linear functionals and the w_ are vectors in ''W''. For example, if W = k^m, then a polynomial mapping can be expressed as P(v) = (P_1(v), \dots, P_m(v)) where the P_i are (scalar-valued) polynomial functions on ''V''. (The abstract definition has an advantage that the map is manifestly free of a choice of basis.) When ''V'', ''W'' are finite-dimensional vector spaces and are viewed as algebraic varieties, then a polynomial mapping is precisely a morphism of algebraic varieties. One fundamental outstanding question regarding polynomial mappings is the Jacobian conjecture, which concerns the sufficiency of a polynomial mapping to be invertible. See also *Polynomial functor References *Claudio P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linear Map
In mathematics, and more specifically in linear algebra, a linear map (also called a linear mapping, linear transformation, vector space homomorphism, or in some contexts linear function) is a Map (mathematics), mapping V \to W between two vector spaces that preserves the operations of vector addition and scalar multiplication. The same names and the same definition are also used for the more general case of module (mathematics), modules over a ring (mathematics), ring; see Module homomorphism. If a linear map is a bijection then it is called a . In the case where V = W, a linear map is called a (linear) ''endomorphism''. Sometimes the term refers to this case, but the term "linear operator" can have different meanings for different conventions: for example, it can be used to emphasize that V and W are Real number, real vector spaces (not necessarily with V = W), or it can be used to emphasize that V is a function space, which is a common convention in functional analysis. Some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vector Space
In mathematics and physics, a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set whose elements, often called ''vectors'', may be added together and multiplied ("scaled") by numbers called '' scalars''. Scalars are often real numbers, but can be complex numbers or, more generally, elements of any field. The operations of vector addition and scalar multiplication must satisfy certain requirements, called ''vector axioms''. The terms real vector space and complex vector space are often used to specify the nature of the scalars: real coordinate space or complex coordinate space. Vector spaces generalize Euclidean vectors, which allow modeling of physical quantities, such as forces and velocity, that have not only a magnitude, but also a direction. The concept of vector spaces is fundamental for linear algebra, together with the concept of matrix, which allows computing in vector spaces. This provides a concise and synthetic way for manipulating and studying systems of linear eq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Category (mathematics)
In mathematics, a category (sometimes called an abstract category to distinguish it from a concrete category) is a collection of "objects" that are linked by "arrows". A category has two basic properties: the ability to compose the arrows associatively and the existence of an identity arrow for each object. A simple example is the category of sets, whose objects are sets and whose arrows are functions. '' Category theory'' is a branch of mathematics that seeks to generalize all of mathematics in terms of categories, independent of what their objects and arrows represent. Virtually every branch of modern mathematics can be described in terms of categories, and doing so often reveals deep insights and similarities between seemingly different areas of mathematics. As such, category theory provides an alternative foundation for mathematics to set theory and other proposed axiomatic foundations. In general, the objects and arrows may be abstract entities of any kind, and the n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Characteristic (algebra)
In mathematics, the characteristic of a ring (mathematics), ring , often denoted , is defined to be the smallest number of times one must use the ring's identity element, multiplicative identity (1) in a sum to get the additive identity (0). If this sum never reaches the additive identity the ring is said to have characteristic zero. That is, is the smallest positive number such that: :\underbrace_ = 0 if such a number exists, and otherwise. Motivation The special definition of the characteristic zero is motivated by the equivalent definitions characterized in the next section, where the characteristic zero is not required to be considered separately. The characteristic may also be taken to be the exponent (group theory), exponent of the ring's additive group, that is, the smallest positive integer such that: :\underbrace_ = 0 for every element of the ring (again, if exists; otherwise zero). Some authors do not include the multiplicative identity element in their r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symmetric Group
In abstract algebra, the symmetric group defined over any set is the group whose elements are all the bijections from the set to itself, and whose group operation is the composition of functions. In particular, the finite symmetric group \mathrm_n defined over a finite set of n symbols consists of the permutations that can be performed on the n symbols. Since there are n! (n factorial) such permutation operations, the order (number of elements) of the symmetric group \mathrm_n is n!. Although symmetric groups can be defined on infinite sets, this article focuses on the finite symmetric groups: their applications, their elements, their conjugacy classes, a finite presentation, their subgroups, their automorphism groups, and their representation theory. For the remainder of this article, "symmetric group" will mean a symmetric group on a finite set. The symmetric group is important to diverse areas of mathematics such as Galois theory, invariant theory, the representatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Category Of Vector Spaces
In algebra, given a ring ''R'', the category of left modules over ''R'' is the category whose objects are all left modules over ''R'' and whose morphisms are all module homomorphisms between left ''R''-modules. For example, when ''R'' is the ring of integers Z, it is the same thing as the category of abelian groups. The category of right modules is defined in a similar way. Note: Some authors use the term module category for the category of modules. This term can be ambiguous since it could also refer to a category with a monoidal-category action. Properties The categories of left and right modules are abelian categories. These categories have enough projectives and enough injectives. Mitchell's embedding theorem states every abelian category arises as a full subcategory of the category of modules. Projective limits and inductive limits exist in the categories of left and right modules. Over a commutative ring, together with the tensor product of modules ⊗, the category of mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Category Of Representations
In representation theory, the category of representations of some algebraic structure has the representations of as objects and equivariant maps as morphisms between them. One of the basic thrusts of representation theory is to understand the conditions under which this category is semisimple; i.e., whether an object decomposes into simple objects (see Maschke's theorem for the case of finite groups). The Tannakian formalism gives conditions under which a group ''G'' may be recovered from the category of representations of it together with the forgetful functor to the category of vector spaces. The Grothendieck ring of the category of finite-dimensional representations of a group ''G'' is called the representation ring of ''G''. Definitions Depending on the types of the representations one wants to consider, it is typical to use slightly different definitions. For a finite group and a field , the category of representations of over has * objects: pairs (, ) of vec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
