Group gradings on full matrix rings (Q1818881)

The authors study the \(G\)-gradings of the matrix ring \(M_n(k)\), \(k\) a field. A \(G\)-grading is said to be good if the matrices \(e_{i,j}\) are homogeneous elements, where \(e_{i,j}\) is the matrix with \(1\) in the \((i,j)\)-position and \(0\) elsewhere. These gradings can be described by the set of all maps from \(\{ 1,2,\ldots,n-1\}\to G\). The strong gradings and the crossed-product structures on \(M_n(k)\) are also determined. All the \(G\)-gradings in the particular case when \(G\) is the cyclic group of order \(m\) and \(k\) contains a primitive \(m\)th root of unity are obtained. This allows to give an example of a \(G\)-grading which is not a good grading. In the last section the \(C_2\)-gradings of \(M_2(k)\) are study in full detail. If \(k\) is algebraically closed, then any \(C_2\)-grading of \(M_2(k)\) is isomorphic to one of the two good gradings.