Algebra 2. Linear algebra, Galois theory, representation theory, group extensions and Schur multiplier (Q526645)

This book is the second part of the author's three-volume textbook on basic abstract algebra. The first volume ``Algebra 1'' [Zbl 1369.00002], which has been published (and reviewed) simultaneously, provides an introduction to the fundamentals of the central algebraic structures such as groups, rings, and fields, together with the related rudiments of elementary arithmetic, while the present second volume is devoted to the topics of linear and multilinear algebra, field extensions, elementary Galois theory, representation theory of finite groups, and group extensions. The book contains ten chapters and is organized as follows. Chapter 1 develops the basics on abstract fields and vector spaces over general ground fields, with special emphasis on subspaces, generators, linear independence, bases, the concept of dimension, direct sums of vector spaces, and quotient spaces. Chapter 2 treats matrices and systems of linear equations, thereby discussing various types of matrices as well as the concepts of equivalence and congruence of matrices. Chapter 3 turns to linear maps between vector spaces, isomorphism theorems, dual vector spaces, matrix representations of linear maps, and base change formulae. Inner product spaces, orthogonality, metrics, isometries, and the Gram-Schmid orthogonalization process are topics of the following Chapter 4, whereas determinants of matrices and vector space endomorphisms, eigenvalues and invariant subspaces with respect to endomorphisms, the spectral theorem for Hermitean linear transformations, and the canonical reduction of bilinear and quadratic forms are explained in Chapter 5. After the standard material of linear algebra discussed in the foregoing five chapters, the following two chapters turn to more advanced topics in linear and multilinear algebra. More precisely, Chapter 6 introduces the concept of module over a ring, describes then the structure of finitely generated modules over a principal ideal domain, and applies the latter to obtain the classical Jordan and rational normal forms of quadratic matrices (or endomorphisms). Chapter~7 presents a little more general linear algebra for modules, mainly with a focus on Noetherian rings and modules, free modules, projective and injective modules, tensor products, exterior powers and the functors \(K_0\) and \(K_1\) in the lower \(K\)-theory of rings. Chapter 8 is devoted to field extensions, elementary Galois theory, geometric constructions by ruler and compass, and the Galois theory of algebraic equations. Thereafter, Chapter 9 develops the elementary theory of linear representations of finite groups over a field along the classical path, that is via semi-simple rings and modules, characters, and the orthogonality relations. The last section of this chapter touches upon induced representations and the Frobenius reciprocity law. Finally, Chapter 10 centers around the classification theory of groups in the context of group extensions and Schur multipliers, which is even more special and advanced than the previous parts. A detailed description of Schreier group extensions, obstructions to extensions, central extensions, Schur multipliers, and their applications to the Milnor \(K\)-group \(K_2\) are the main objects of study in this chapter, which concludes the book under review. As in the first volume ``Algebra 1'' [Zbl 1369.00002], the text is enhanced by a large number of examples and exercises, and the presentation of the material is equally lucid, detailed, rigorous and versatile. Together with Volume 1, this book forms a very solid and useful source for a first-, second-, and third-year course in algebra at most universities worldwide, and that for both instructors and students likewise.