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On Trace for Modules
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 January 2016
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Classically, trace was defined as the sum of the diagonal entries of a square matrix with entries in a field. This notion played an important role in classical mathematics, e.g. in the theory of algebras over a field of characteristic zero, and in the theory of group characters (as in [1]). A generalization to endomorphisms of a finitely generated projective module over any ring R with unit is well-known. For such a module P the canonical homomorphism Ψ: P* ⊗ P→ EndR(P) is an isomorphism. Then the composite ε˚Ψ-1: EndR(P) → P* ↗ P→ R, where e denotes “evaluation”, is a homomorphism which coincides with the classical trace whenever P is free. This version of trace has been used by Hattori [3] and others to study projective modules. However, this approach to trace is limited to the finitely generated projective modules, since it can be shown that Ψ is an isomorphism if and only if P is finitely generated and projective.
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- Copyright © Editorial Board of Nagoya Mathematical Journal 1970
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