Morphism of algebraic varietiesIn algebraic geometry, a morphism between algebraic varieties is a function between the varieties that is given locally by polynomials. It is also called a regular map. A morphism from an algebraic variety to the affine line is also called a regular function. A regular map whose inverse is also regular is called biregular, and the biregular maps are the isomorphisms of algebraic varieties.
Reductive groupIn mathematics, a reductive group is a type of linear algebraic group over a field. One definition is that a connected linear algebraic group G over a perfect field is reductive if it has a representation that has a finite kernel and is a direct sum of irreducible representations. Reductive groups include some of the most important groups in mathematics, such as the general linear group GL(n) of invertible matrices, the special orthogonal group SO(n), and the symplectic group Sp(2n).
Linear algebraic groupIn mathematics, a linear algebraic group is a subgroup of the group of invertible matrices (under matrix multiplication) that is defined by polynomial equations. An example is the orthogonal group, defined by the relation where is the transpose of . Many Lie groups can be viewed as linear algebraic groups over the field of real or complex numbers. (For example, every compact Lie group can be regarded as a linear algebraic group over R (necessarily R-anisotropic and reductive), as can many noncompact groups such as the simple Lie group SL(n,R).
Rational mappingIn mathematics, in particular the subfield of algebraic geometry, a rational map or rational mapping is a kind of partial function between algebraic varieties. This article uses the convention that varieties are irreducible. Formally, a rational map between two varieties is an equivalence class of pairs in which is a morphism of varieties from a non-empty open set to , and two such pairs and are considered equivalent if and coincide on the intersection (this is, in particular, vacuously true if the intersection is empty, but since is assumed irreducible, this is impossible).
Abelian varietyIn mathematics, particularly in algebraic geometry, complex analysis and algebraic number theory, an abelian variety is a projective algebraic variety that is also an algebraic group, i.e., has a group law that can be defined by regular functions. Abelian varieties are at the same time among the most studied objects in algebraic geometry and indispensable tools for much research on other topics in algebraic geometry and number theory. An abelian variety can be defined by equations having coefficients in any field; the variety is then said to be defined over that field.
Algebraic varietyAlgebraic varieties are the central objects of study in algebraic geometry, a sub-field of mathematics. Classically, an algebraic variety is defined as the set of solutions of a system of polynomial equations over the real or complex numbers. Modern definitions generalize this concept in several different ways, while attempting to preserve the geometric intuition behind the original definition. Conventions regarding the definition of an algebraic variety differ slightly.
Algebraic groupIn mathematics, an algebraic group is an algebraic variety endowed with a group structure that is compatible with its structure as an algebraic variety. Thus the study of algebraic groups belongs both to algebraic geometry and group theory. Many groups of geometric transformations are algebraic groups; for example, orthogonal groups, general linear groups, projective groups, Euclidean groups, etc. Many matrix groups are also algebraic. Other algebraic groups occur naturally in algebraic geometry, such as elliptic curves and Jacobian varieties.
Projective linear groupIn mathematics, especially in the group theoretic area of algebra, the projective linear group (also known as the projective general linear group or PGL) is the induced action of the general linear group of a vector space V on the associated projective space P(V). Explicitly, the projective linear group is the quotient group PGL(V) = GL(V)/Z(V) where GL(V) is the general linear group of V and Z(V) is the subgroup of all nonzero scalar transformations of V; these are quotiented out because they act trivially on the projective space and they form the kernel of the action, and the notation "Z" reflects that the scalar transformations form the center of the general linear group.
Projective varietyIn algebraic geometry, a projective variety over an algebraically closed field k is a subset of some projective n-space over k that is the zero-locus of some finite family of homogeneous polynomials of n + 1 variables with coefficients in k, that generate a prime ideal, the defining ideal of the variety. Equivalently, an algebraic variety is projective if it can be embedded as a Zariski closed subvariety of .
Group of Lie typeIn mathematics, specifically in group theory, the phrase group of Lie type usually refers to finite groups that are closely related to the group of rational points of a reductive linear algebraic group with values in a finite field. The phrase group of Lie type does not have a widely accepted precise definition, but the important collection of finite simple groups of Lie type does have a precise definition, and they make up most of the groups in the classification of finite simple groups.
Morphism of schemesIn algebraic geometry, a morphism of schemes generalizes a morphism of algebraic varieties just as a scheme generalizes an algebraic variety. It is, by definition, a morphism in the category of schemes. A morphism of algebraic stacks generalizes a morphism of schemes. By definition, a morphism of schemes is just a morphism of locally ringed spaces. A scheme, by definition, has open affine charts and thus a morphism of schemes can also be described in terms of such charts (compare the definition of morphism of varieties).
Quasi-projective varietyIn mathematics, a quasi-projective variety in algebraic geometry is a locally closed subset of a projective variety, i.e., the intersection inside some projective space of a Zariski-open and a Zariski-closed subset. A similar definition is used in scheme theory, where a quasi-projective scheme is a locally closed subscheme of some projective space. An affine space is a Zariski-open subset of a projective space, and since any closed affine subset can be expressed as an intersection of the projective completion and the affine space embedded in the projective space, this implies that any affine variety is quasiprojective.
Invariant theoryInvariant theory is a branch of abstract algebra dealing with actions of groups on algebraic varieties, such as vector spaces, from the point of view of their effect on functions. Classically, the theory dealt with the question of explicit description of polynomial functions that do not change, or are invariant, under the transformations from a given linear group. For example, if we consider the action of the special linear group SLn on the space of n by n matrices by left multiplication, then the determinant is an invariant of this action because the determinant of A X equals the determinant of X, when A is in SLn.
Ruled varietyIn algebraic geometry, a variety over a field k is ruled if it is birational to the product of the projective line with some variety over k. A variety is uniruled if it is covered by a family of rational curves. (More precisely, a variety X is uniruled if there is a variety Y and a dominant rational map Y × P1 – → X which does not factor through the projection to Y.) The concept arose from the ruled surfaces of 19th-century geometry, meaning surfaces in affine space or projective space which are covered by lines.
Irreducible componentIn algebraic geometry, an irreducible algebraic set or irreducible variety is an algebraic set that cannot be written as the union of two proper algebraic subsets. An irreducible component is an algebraic subset that is irreducible and maximal (for set inclusion) for this property. For example, the set of solutions of the equation xy = 0 is not irreducible, and its irreducible components are the two lines of equations x = 0 and y =0.
Kodaira dimensionIn algebraic geometry, the Kodaira dimension κ(X) measures the size of the canonical model of a projective variety X. Igor Shafarevich in a seminar introduced an important numerical invariant of surfaces with the notation κ. Shigeru Iitaka extended it and defined the Kodaira dimension for higher dimensional varieties (under the name of canonical dimension), and later named it after Kunihiko Kodaira. The canonical bundle of a smooth algebraic variety X of dimension n over a field is the line bundle of n-forms, which is the nth exterior power of the cotangent bundle of X.
UnipotentIn mathematics, a unipotent element r of a ring R is one such that r − 1 is a nilpotent element; in other words, (r − 1)n is zero for some n. In particular, a square matrix M is a unipotent matrix if and only if its characteristic polynomial P(t) is a power of t − 1. Thus all the eigenvalues of a unipotent matrix are 1. The term quasi-unipotent means that some power is unipotent, for example for a diagonalizable matrix with eigenvalues that are all roots of unity.
Weyl character formulaIn mathematics, the Weyl character formula in representation theory describes the characters of irreducible representations of compact Lie groups in terms of their highest weights. It was proved by . There is a closely related formula for the character of an irreducible representation of a semisimple Lie algebra. In Weyl's approach to the representation theory of connected compact Lie groups, the proof of the character formula is a key step in proving that every dominant integral element actually arises as the highest weight of some irreducible representation.
Quotient ringIn ring theory, a branch of abstract algebra, a quotient ring, also known as factor ring, difference ring or residue class ring, is a construction quite similar to the quotient group in group theory and to the quotient space in linear algebra. It is a specific example of a quotient, as viewed from the general setting of universal algebra. Starting with a ring R and a two-sided ideal I in R, a new ring, the quotient ring R / I, is constructed, whose elements are the cosets of I in R subject to special + and ⋅ operations.
Algebraic function fieldIn mathematics, an algebraic function field (often abbreviated as function field) of n variables over a field k is a finitely generated field extension K/k which has transcendence degree n over k. Equivalently, an algebraic function field of n variables over k may be defined as a finite field extension of the field K = k(x1,...,xn) of rational functions in n variables over k. As an example, in the polynomial ring k [X,Y] consider the ideal generated by the irreducible polynomial Y 2 − X 3 and form the field of fractions of the quotient ring k [X,Y]/(Y 2 − X 3).
