- 154 -

FUNCTORS BETWEEN CATEGORIES

OF V E C T O R SPACES

by

D. B. A. E p s t e i n *

and

M. K n e s e r * *

Let K and L be fields. We c o n s i d e r the p r o b l e m

of c l a s s i f y i n g f u n c t o r s from ~(K), the c a t e g o r y of finite

d i m e n s i o n a l K - v e c t o r spaces and K - l i n e a r maps, to ~(L). For

any two c a t e g o r i e s and B and for any o b j e c t B of B,

we h a v e a f u n c t o r f r o m to B, w h i c h assigns to e a c h ob-

ject of A the o b j e c t B, and tD each m o r p h i s m of A the

identity map 1 B. Any f u n c t o r i s o m o r p h i c to such a functor

w i l l be c a l l e d a c o n s t a n t functor.

The f o l l o w i n g results are s u b s t a n t i a l improvements

on the results in [2].

Theorem 1

Let F: ~(K) > ~(L) be a n o n - c o n s t a n t functor,

and let K be infinite. Then K and L have the same char-

a c t e r i s t i c and L is infinite.

If K is finite then T h e o r e m 1 is false. For we

* U n i v e r s i t y of Warwick, Coventry, England

** G o t t i n g e n , Germany
 - 155 -

have the forgetful functor from ~(K) to t h e category of

finite sets, and for any field L there are many functors

from the category of finite sets to ~(L). This remark is

due to A. Borel. We shall therefore assume throughout this

paper that K is infinite.

Theorem 2

Let K and L have characteristic zero and let

F: V(K) > V(L) be a non-constant functor. Then for each

integer n k 0, there exists a functor

Gn: V(K) • ... • V(K) = V(K) n > V(L)

and a functor Fn: V(K) > V(L), such that

i) G is additive in e a c h of its n variables

n

ii) F is a subfunctor of G 9 A where

n n n

An: V(K) > V(K) n

is the diagonal functor

iii) F = | .
n

Note. When n = 0, V(K) n is d e f i n e d as the cate-

gory with one object and one morphism. So G O , A 0 and F0

are constant functors.

 - 156 -

Corollary 3

K can be e m b e d d e d in a f i n i t e field extension of

L.

Corollary 4

If K = ~, the field of r a t i o n a l s , then F is a

polynomial functor. Such functors are completely classified

in [2].

Corollary 3 is a c o n s e q u e n c e of T h e o r e m 2. The

easy proof is g i v e n in L e m m a 5. Corollary 4 follows from

[2] L e m m a 7.2.

Since FV is n a t u r a l l y isomorphic to

F0 | k e r ( F V > F0), we m a y assume without loss of g e n e r a l -

ity that F0 = 0. (The c o n s t a n t functor V : > F0 corres-

ponds to the case n = 0 in T h e o r e m 2. That is F 0 V = F0 .)

We now commence the p r o o f s of the theorems.

Lemma 5

Let G be an a b e l i a n group and W a finite dimen-

sional vector space over L. Let 8: G > AUtLW be a

homomorphism. Then the smallest extension field LI of L,

which contains all eigenvalues of 8g for all g 6 G, is

a finite extension. Moreover there is a b a s i s of WSLL 1

with respect to w h i c h all e l e m e n t s of 8G are u p p e r tri-

angular.
 - 157 -

Proof. We use induction on the dimension of W.

Suppose that for s o m e element g 6 G, @g is n o t scalar

multiplication. Let l be an e i g e n v a l u e of @g. Without

loss of g e n e r a l i t y , we may suppose that ~ 6 L. Then

W ~ W 1 = {w 6 Wl (@g)w = lw} ~ 0

is a r e p r e s e n t a t i o n space for G. We apply the induction

hypothesis to W 1 and W/W 1 . This completes the p r o o f .

We use this lemma to s h o w that Theorem 2 implies

Corollary 3. Since F is n o t constant, Gn ~ 0 for some

n a i. Therefore M = Gn(K,...,K) ~ 0. Now M is an L-

vector space which is also a vector space over K (via the

action on the first variable, for e x a m p l e ) . By L e m m a 5 we

may find a finite field extension L1 of L and an L l-

basis for M| with respect to w h i c h the action of any

element k 6 K is u p p e r triangular. Each diagonal position

then gives rise to a f i e l d embedding of K in L1 .

Lemma 6

Let G be a n i l p o t e n t group and let L be an

algebraically closed field. Let W be a finite dimensional

vector space and let @: G > AUtLW be a homomorphism.

Suppose that G has n o finite cyclic quotient group. Then

it is p o s s i b l e to c h o o s e a basis for W, so t h a t each ele-

ment g 6 G acts as an u p p e r triangular matrix.

 - 158 -

Proof. We n e e d only show that G acts by scalar

multiplication for e v e r y simple G-module W which is finite

dimensional over L. Let {i} = G O < G 1 < ... < G r G be

a central series for G, and suppose we have shown by i n d u c -

tion on i, that G. acts on W by s c a l a r multiplication.

l
Let e: G > AUtLW be the representation.
-i -I
Let x 6 Gi+ 1 and g 6 G. Then xgx g 6 Gi

and so w e can define l(x,g) 6 L* by X(x,g) = 8 ( x g x - l g -I)

or

8x 9 eg = eg . 8xX (x,g) .

Taking determinants, we see that l(x,g) is a k th r o o t of

unity, where k = dimW. It is o b v i o u s that for fixed x,

(x, ) gives a homomorphism of G into L*, and hence into

the g r o u p of k th r o o t s of u n i t y in L. But the k th r o o t s of

unity form a finite cyclic group, and so X(x,g) = 1 for

all x 6 Gi+ 1 and all g 6 G. Hence ex commutes with the

action of G on W. By Schur's Lemma, ex is t h e r e f o r e

scalar multiplication. This completes the p r o o f of the lemma.

We recall that a linear map A: W > W is called

unipotent if (A- i) is n i l p o t e n t , i.e. if (A- i) r = 0

for large enough r. This is e q u i v a l e n t to b e i n g able to

find a basis for W, with respect to w h i c h A is u n i t r i -

angular (upper triangular with ones down the d i a g o n a l ) .

 - 1 5 9 -

Theorem 7

Let K be an i n f i n i t e field and let dimKV > 2.

Let SL(V,K) be the group of a u t o m o r p h i s m s with determinant

one. Let e: SL(V,K) > AUtLW be a non-trivial homomor-

phism. Then

i) L is i n f i n i t e ;

ii) K and L have the same characteristic;

iii) G maps unipotent elements to u n i p o t e n t elements.

iv) In fact, if w e fix a b a s i s for V, then there

exists a basis for W such that e maps

unitriangular matrices to u n i t r i a n g u l a r matrices,

but we do n o t p r o v e this.

Proof. Every normal subgroup of SL(V,K) is con-

th
tained in the g r o u p of s c a l a r multiplications by the r

roots of u n i t y (dim V = r) [i] p. 38. So SL(V,K) has

only trivial homomorphisms into finite groups. In p a r t i c u l a r

L must be infinite.

Let K have characteristic p. Then the unipotent

elements are e x a c t l y those whose order is a p o w e r of p. So

if L has characteristic p, then unipotent elements are

mapped to u n i p o t e n t elements. The matrices of the form

1 + xEl2(x 6 K) form an i n f i n i t e abelian group H of

 - 1 6 0 -

exponent p. By L e m m a 5, we may choose a basis for W|

so that 8H consists of u p p e r triangular matrices. The

th
diagonal entries of an e l e m e n t of eH are p roots of

unity. Hence the s u b g r o u p S of H consisting of e l e m e n t s

mapping under 8 to u n i t r i a n g u l a r elements, is n o n - t r i v i a l .

On the o t h e r hand, if the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of L is not p,

S = i. It follows, as in the first p a r a g r a p h , that % is

trivial. So we h a v e p r o v e d that if K has characteristic

p, t h e n so has L, and u n i p o t e n t elements are mapped to

unipotent elements.

Now let K have characteristic zero. Without

loss of g e n e r a l i t y , w e may suppose that L is a l g e b r a i -

cally closed (which w o u l d n o t be l e g i t i m a t e if w e w e r e

proving iv). We now a p p l y Lemma 6, to d e d u c e that unitri-

angular matrices in SL(V,K) are s e n t to u p p e r triangular

matrices in AUtLW. Let i < j < k. Then the c o m m u t a t o r

(i + IEij) (i + Ejk) (i - IEij) (i - Ejk) = 1 + IEik .

It follows that 8(1 + ~Eik) is a c o m m u t a t o r of u p p e r tri-

angular matrices and is t h e r e f o r e unitriangular. So

%(1 + ~Eik) is u n i p o t e n t .

Changing the b a s i s of V, we see t h a t 8(1 + IEij)

is u n i p o t e n t for all i ~ j. It follows that for i < j,

e(l + IEij) is u n i t r i a n g u l a r . Since the e l e m e n t s i+ IE..

13
generate the g r o u p of u n i t r i a n g u l a r matrices in SL (V, K) ,
 - 161 -

we see that 6 maps unitriangular matrices to u n i t r i a n g u l a r

matrices, and hence unipotent elements to u n i p o t e n t elements.

We therefore have 8(i + XEl2) = 1 + ~i<jeij (x)Eij,

where u..: K > L. Since 8 is n o n - t r i v i a l on SL(V,K),

13
some ~.. must be n o n - z e r o . We p i c k a pair of i n t e g e r s
13
i < j, with ~.. non-zero and j - i minimal. Then e..
13 13
is an a d d i t i v e homomorphism of the d i v i s i b l e abelian group

K into L. It f o l l o w s that L has characteristic zero,

and the p r o o f of T h e o r e m 7 is c o m p l e t e .

We can n o w deduce Theorem i. If T h e o r e m 1 is

false, t h e n by T h e o r e m 7, e a c h homomorphism

SL(V,K) > AUtLFV induced by F is t r i v i a l . Let V be

a vector space of e v e n dimension, such that F V ~ 0. Let

i,j: V > V~V be the canonical injections and

p,q: VeV > V be the canonical projections. Let

= jp + iq. Then e has determinant one and e2 = i. We

have 0V@ v = ip e ip ~. Applying F and remembering that

Fe = ivev, we have 0 = F(ip) 2 = F(ip). Now i v = pi pi.

Therefore

I F V = F(I V) = F(p) F(ip) F(i) = 0 ,

which is a c o n t r a d i c t i o n .

We assume from now on t h a t K and L have charac-

teristic zero. For any n i l p o t e n t endomorphism N of W,

we can d e f i n e exp N and log (i + N) with the usual power

 - 1 6 2 -

series. The functions exp and log give inverse bijec-

tions b e t w e e n the set of u n i p o t e n t endomorphisms a n d the set

of all n i l p o t e n t endomorphisms.

Lemma 8

Let G be the g r o u p of a u t o m o r p h i s m s of V of

the f o r m (i + xN), where N is a f i x e d e n d o m o r p h i s m of

V with N2 = 0 and x 6 K. Let 0: G > GL(m,L) be a

homomorphism w h i c h maps G into unipotent matrices. Let

8ij: K > L ( I < i,j < m) be the f u n c t i o n defined by

%ij (x) = 8(i + xN)ij. Then %ij is a s u m of p r o d u c t s of

additive homomorphisms from K to L.

Proof. 8(1 + xN) = exp log 8(1 + xN). Now

x > log 8(1 + xN) is an a d d i t i v e homomorphism i n t o the

additive g r o u p of (m • m) matrices over K. The result

follows by e x p a n d i n g the e x p o n e n t i a l series (which is zero

after a finite number of terms).

Lemma 9

Let Xv: V > V be s c a l a r m u l t i p l i c a t i o n by

x 6 K. There exist endomorphisms Ai of F V ( I ~ i ~ r)

and f u n c t i o n s e.: K ) L such that e. is a s u m of p r o -

1 1

ducts of a d d i t i v e homomorphisms and F ( x v) = E[=lei(x)Ai .

 - 163 -

Proof. Let i,j: V > V@V be the c a n o n i c a l injec-

tions and p,q: V~V > V b e the c a n o n i c a l projections.

Then, F(VeV) has FV~FV as a d i r e c t summand. The first

f a c t o r has as its c a n o n i c a l injection and p r o j e c t i o n the

maps Fi and Fp, and the s e c o n d factor the m a p s Fj and

Fq.

We c o n s i d e r the s u b g r o u p of AutK(V~V) consisting

of e l e m e n t s of the form 1 + xiq(x 6 K). By T h e o r e m 7,

F(I + xiq) is u n i p o t e n t for all x 6 K. By Lemma 8, if we

choose a basis for F(V@V), then each entry in the m a t r i x

of F(I + xiq) is a s u m of p r o d u c t s of a d d i t i v e homomorphisms

of K in to L.

Now Fp 9 F(I + xiq) 9 Fj = F(Xv). The lemma

follows.

We now a p p l y L e m m a 5, w i t h G = ~* c K*. Here Q

is the f i e l d of r a t i o n a l numbers. G acts on FV by

I ! > F(IV). We can c h o o s e a basis for FV| such that

F(I v) is u p p e r t r i a n g u l a r for e a c h I 6 @. N o w any a d d i t i v e

homomorphism @ : > L has the form I : > al fpr some

a 6 L. By L e m m a 9 each e n t r y in the m a t r i x of F(I v) is a

polynomial function in I, with coefficients in L and

zero c o n s t a n t term. The d i a g o n a l entries are m u l t i p l i c a t i v e

homomorphisms Q ~ > L. But e v e r y m u l t i p l i c a t i v e homomor-

phism, which is p o l y n o m i a l , has the f o r m I : > Ii for some

i a 0. Hence the d i a g o n a l entries of F(I v) are all of the

 - 164 -

i
form I , where the value of i may depend on the position

of the entry. It follows that L1 (the extension field of

L described in L e m m a 5), is in fact equal to L.

For each integer i > 0, we define

FiV = {w 6 FVI (F~ v - ~ i ) N w = 0 all ~ 6 ~ and N = dim FV}

It is easy to see that if e: V > W is linear, then F

carries F.V into F.W. We have F ~ @.F. .

1 1 i i

For the sake of completeness, we repeat some material

contained in [2] concerning deviation functors, which is a

notion due to Eilenberg and MacLane [3].

Let ~ be an arbitrary category with finite pro-

ducts and a zero object, and let A be an abelian category.

Let F: ~ > ~ be a functor such that F0 = 0. If C and

D are two objects in ~, we have canonical injections and

projections

i: C - - C x D, j: D ) C x D, p: C x D > C, q: C x D 9 D,

such that pi = IC, qj = 1 D, pj = 0DC, qi = 0CD. Let

FI(C,D) = ker Fp N ker Fq. We have a direct sum decomposi-

tion, which is natural for morphisms C > C1 D > D1 .

Lemma i0

F(C x D) _~ F C @ FD @ F 1 (C,D). The projections on

to the three factors are FP, Fq and 1 - Fj 9 Fq - Fi 9 Fp.

 - 165 -

The injections are Fi, Fj and inclusion.

Lemma ii

If F1 > F2 is a morphism of functors, then we

obtain an i n d u c e d morphism (F1) I > (F2) I of functors

from ~2 = ~ • ~ to ~, which respects the direct sum

decomposition i0.

If G: ~k > ~ is a f u n c t o r of k variables,
.th
one can perform the above process on t h e l variable for

some fixed i, to o b t a i n a functor Gi : =

C k+1 > A. (We

use Lemma ii for this.) Suppose F is as above, and we have

defined FI : C_=k + l > A, where I = { i l , . . . , i k} is a k-tuple

of i n t e g e r s such that 1 g i. g j for each j. Then we

]
define

FJ = (FI) J : C=k+2 > A

where J = {i , . . . , i k , j} and 1 < j ~ k + 1 .

If C = C 1 • ... • C and K is a subset of

n
{l,2,...,n}, we denote by ~K: C > C the m o r p h i s m such

that Pi~K = Pi for i E K and Pi~K = 0 for i ~ K. Let

IKI be the number of e l e m e n t s of K. It is e a s y to p r o v e ,

by induction on the length n of n - t u p l e I = { i l , . . . , i n}

such that 1 ~ i. ~ j for each j, that

3

FI(cl,...,Cn ) = I m ( E K ( - 1 ) IKIF(~K)) c FC ,
 - 1 6 6 -

where K runs o v e r all the s u b s e t s of {l,...,n}. Hence

FI depends o n l y on the l e n g t h of I and is i n d e p e n d e n t of

the o r d e r of the v a r i a b l e s C I , . . . , C n. We d e f i n e

F (n) (Cl,.. . ,C n) = I m ( ~ K ( - i ) IK]F(~K)) .

F (n) is c a l l e d the n th d e v i a t i o n of F. We o b v i o u s l y have:

Lemma 12

F,n,l~ is a d d i t i v e in e a c h v a r i a b l e if and o n l y if
(n+l)
F = 0 9

N o w w e t u r n to f u n c t o r s F: V(K) > V(L), and we

suppose that F0 = 0, as w e c a n do (see j u s t b e f o r e Lemma

5). A functor F w i l l be c a l l e d h o m o g e n e o u s of d e g r e e i if

for e a c h v e c t o r space V over K, and each I 6 Q, the

eigenvalues of F1V are all e q u a l to li . We h a v e shown

above (just b e f o r e the s e c t i o n on d e v i a t i o n functors), that

if K and L have characteristic zero, then every functor

is the d i r e c t s u m of h o m o g e n e o u s functors. In o r d e r to p r o v e

Theorem 2, w e m a y therefore assume F is h o m o g e n e o u s .

Lemma 13

If F is h o m o g e n e o u s of d e g r e e n, then F (n) ~ 0

and F(n+l) = 0 .

Proof. If A and B are c o m m u t i n g endomorphisms

of a v e c t o r space, then every eigenvalue of AB is the

 - 167 -

product of an e i g e n v a l u e of A and an eigenvalue of B. Re-

garding F (k) as a functor of the i th v a r i a b l e only, we have

shown that F (k) ( I , . . . , I , X , I , . . . , I ) ( X 6 @) has each of its

eigenvalues of the form X ni. It follows that the eigenval-

ues of F (k) (X,...,X) are of the form Xn l + n 2 + ' ' ' + n k . Since

F (k) (V,...,V) is a subfunctor of F(Ve ... SV), it follows

that nI + ... + n k = n. Since n.1 > 1 for 1 < i < k, we

deduce that F (n+l) = 0. Let k be the largest integer such

that F (k) ~ 0. Then F (k) is additive in each variable by

Lemma 12 a n d so e a c h n. is equal to o n e .
1

Lemma 14

Let F: V(K) > V(L) be homogeneons of degree n.

Then F can be embedded in the direct sum G of (n - i)!

copies of F (n) 9 A , where An: ~(K) > V(K) n is the di-

n
agonal functor. This embedding is n a t u r a l in F - that is,

if e: F 1 > F2 is a morphism of functors of d e g r e e n,

then we ha~e a commutative diagram

FI > F2

[
G 1 > G2
1
where
(n)
B is induced by a

Proof. Consider the composition

 - 168-

VeV

2
V :~ V

where A is the diagonal and m is addition. We have F (2 V)

expressed as the composition

FV FA> F V @ F V ~ F (2) (V,V) Fm 9 FV

which is e q u a l to F1 v + F1 v + F m o YV where

YV: FV 9 F(2) (V,V) is e q u a l to

(i - F i F p - FjFq)FA = FA - Fi - Fj. So 7V gives rise to

a morphism of functors y from ~(K) to ~(L). Moreover,

if ~: F1 > F2 is a morphism of functors, then we have a

commutative diagram

FIV > F2V

(2) (2)
F1 (V,V) 9 F2 (V,V)

We know that F(2V) = IFV + IFV + Fm 9 YV" Without

loss of g e n e r a l i t y , we may suppose that n > i. Then all

the eigenvalues of Fm . YV are equal to 2n - 2 and so

YV is a monomorphism for each V. Hence F is e m b e d d e d in

F (2) . A2 .
 - 169 -

The lemma is n o w proved by induction on n. We can

write F (2) = @ n - i T , where

r=l r , n - r

Tr,n_r: V(K) > V(L)

has degree r in the first variable and degree n - r in

the second variable. This is done by regarding F (2) as a

functor of the first variable only and writing it as a sum

of h o m o g e n e o u s functors. (We r e c a l l that F(2)(V,V) c F(VeV),

so t h a t the degrees in the two variables must add up to n.)

Let G: V(K)2 = V(K) x V(K) > V(L). We define

G(r's): ~(K) r + s > V(L) by taking the r th d e v i a t i o n with

th
respect to t h e first variable and the s deviation with re-

spect to t h e second variable. By induction on n, using the

naturality of t h e embeddings for lower values of n, we embed

Tr,n_ r in (r - i) ! (n - r - i) ! copies of

(r,n-r) x A From Lemma 13, it follows

(Tr,n_ r) 9 (A r n _ r )-

(r,n-r) (2) (r,n-r) (n)

that Tr,n_r) = (F ) = F . Hence

T may be embedded in (r - i) ! (n - r - i) ! (<(n - 2) !)

r,n-r

copies of Ft~,n, 9 A • A It follows that T . A2

r n-r r,n-r

may be embedded in t h e direct sum of (r - I)! (n - 1 - r)!

copies of F (n) 9 An. Therefore F c F (2) o A2 may be em-

bedded in (n-l)! copies of F (n) 9 An . This completes the

proof of T h e o r e m 2.
 - 170 -

REFERENCES

[13 Dieudonn~, J., "Sur la g~om~trie des groupes classiques",

Springer, 1955.

[2] Epstein, D. B. A., "Group representations and functors",

to appear in Am. J. Math.

[3) Eilenberg, S., and MacLane, S., "On the groups H(~,n),

If", Annals of Math., 60; 75-83, (1954).