In mathematics, the tensor algebra of a vector space V, denoted T(V) or T •(V), is the algebra of tensors on V (of any rank) with multiplication being the tensor product. It is the free algebra on V, in the sense of being left adjoint to the forgetful functor from algebras to vector spaces: it is the "most general" algebra containing V, in the sense of the corresponding universal property (see below).
Contents
- Construction
- Adjunction and universal property
- Non commutative polynomials
- Quotients
- Coalgebra
- Coproduct
- Counit
- Bialgebra
- Multiplication
- Unit
- Compatibility
- Hopf algebra
- Cofree coalgebra
- References
The tensor algebra is important because many other algebras arise as quotient algebras of T(V). These include the exterior algebra, the symmetric algebra, Clifford algebras, the Weyl algebra and universal enveloping algebras.
The tensor algebra also has two coalgebra structures; one simple one, which does not make it a bialgebra, but does lead to the concept of a cofree coalgebra, and a more complicated one, which yields a bialgebra, and can be extended by giving an antipode to create a Hopf algebra structure.
Note: In this article, all algebras are assumed to be unital and associative. The unit is explicitly required to define the coproduct.
Construction
Let V be a vector space over a field K. For any nonnegative integer k, we define the kth tensor power of V to be the tensor product of V with itself k times:
That is, TkV consists of all tensors on V of order k. By convention T0V is the ground field K (as a one-dimensional vector space over itself).
We then construct T(V) as the direct sum of TkV for k = 0,1,2,…
The multiplication in T(V) is determined by the canonical isomorphism
given by the tensor product, which is then extended by linearity to all of T(V). This multiplication rule implies that the tensor algebra T(V) is naturally a graded algebra with TkV serving as the grade-k subspace. This grading can be extended to a Z grading by appending subspaces
The construction generalizes in straightforward manner to the tensor algebra of any module M over a commutative ring. If R is a non-commutative ring, one can still perform the construction for any R-R bimodule M. (It does not work for ordinary R-modules because the iterated tensor products cannot be formed.)
Adjunction and universal property
The tensor algebra T(V) is also called the free algebra on the vector space V, and is functorial. As with other free constructions, the functor T is left adjoint to some forgetful functor. In this case, it's the functor which sends each K-algebra to its underlying vector space.
Explicitly, the tensor algebra satisfies the following universal property, which formally expresses the statement that it is the most general algebra containing V:
Any linear transformation f : V → A from V to an algebra A over K can be uniquely extended to an algebra homomorphism from T(V) to A as indicated by the following commutative diagram:Here i is the canonical inclusion of V into T(V) (the unit of the adjunction). One can, in fact, define the tensor algebra T(V) as the unique algebra satisfying this property (specifically, it is unique up to a unique isomorphism), but one must still prove that an object satisfying this property exists.
The above universal property shows that the construction of the tensor algebra is functorial in nature. That is, T is a functor from K-Vect, the category of vector spaces over K, to K-Alg, the category of K-algebras. The functoriality of T means that any linear map from V to W extends uniquely to an algebra homomorphism from T(V) to T(W).
Non-commutative polynomials
If V has finite dimension n, another way of looking at the tensor algebra is as the "algebra of polynomials over K in n non-commuting variables". If we take basis vectors for V, those become non-commuting variables (or indeterminants) in T(V), subject to no constraints beyond associativity, the distributive law and K-linearity.
Note that the algebra of polynomials on V is not
Quotients
Because of the generality of the tensor algebra, many other algebras of interest can be constructed by starting with the tensor algebra and then imposing certain relations on the generators, i.e. by constructing certain quotient algebras of T(V). Examples of this are the exterior algebra, the symmetric algebra, Clifford algebras, the Weyl algebra and universal enveloping algebras.
Coalgebra
The tensor algebra has two different coalgebra structures. One is compatible with the tensor product, and thus can be extended to a bialgebra, and can be further be extended with an antipode to a Hopf algebra structure. The other structure, although simpler, cannot be extended to a bialgebra. The first structure is developed immediately below; the second structure is given in the section on the cofree coalgebra, further down.
The development provided below can be equally well applied to the exterior algebra, using the wedge symbol
Similarly, the symmetric algebra can also be given the structure of a Hopf algebra, in exactly the same fashion, by replacing everywhere the tensor product
In each case, this is possible because the alternating product
In the language of category theory, one says that there is a functor T from the category of K-vector spaces to the category of K-associate algebras. But there is also a functor Λ taking vector spaces to the category of exterior algebras, and a functor Sym taking vector spaces to symmetric algebras. There is a natural map from T to each of these. Verifying that quotienting preserves the Hopf algebra structure is the same as verifying that the maps are indeed natural.
Coproduct
The coalgebra is obtained by defining a coproduct or diagonal operator
Here,
The definition of the operator
and
where
for all
where
and likewise for the other side. At this point, one could invoke a lemma, and say that
Expanding, one has
In the above expansion, there is no need to ever write
The extension above preserves the algebra grading. That is,
Continuing in this fashion, one can obtain an explicit expression for the coproduct acting on a homogenous element of order m:
where the
As before, the algebra grading is preserved:
Counit
The counit
for all
Working this explicitly, one has
where, for the last step, one has made use of the isomorphism
Bialgebra
A bialgebra defines both multiplication, and comultiplication, and requires them to be compatible.
Multiplication
Multiplication is given by an operator
which, in this case, was already given as the "internal" tensor product. That is,
That is,
Unit
The unit is the initial object for the algebra, and is exactly as expected:
is just the embedding, so that
That the unit is compatible with the tensor product
on
where the right-hand side of these equations should be understood as the scalar product.
Compatibility
The unit and counit, and multiplication and comultiplication, all have to satisfy compatibility conditions. It is straightforward to see that
Similarly, the unit is compatible with comultiplication:
The above requires the use of the isomorphism
with the right-hand side making use of the isomorphism.
Multiplication and the counit are compatible:
whenever x or y are not elements of
where
For
Hopf algebra
The Hopf algebra adds an antipode to the bialgebra axioms. The antipode
This is sometimes called the "anti-identity". The antipode on
and on
This extends homomorphically to
Compatibility
Compatibility of the antipode with multiplication and comultiplication requires that
This is straight-forward to verify componentwise on
Similarly, on
Recall that
and that
for any
One may proceed in a similar manner, by homomorphism, verifying that the antipode inserts the appropriate cancellative signs in the shuffle, starting with the compatibility condition on
Cofree coalgebra
One may define a different coproduct on the tensor algebra, simpler than the one given above. It is given by
Here, as before, one uses the notational trick
This coproduct gives rise to a coalgebra. It describes a coalgebra that is dual to the algebra structure on T(V∗), where V∗ denotes the dual vector space of linear maps V → F. In the same way that the tensor algebra is a free algebra, the corresponding coalgebra is termed (conilpotent) co-free. With the usual product this is not a bialgebra. It can be turned into a bialgebra with the product
The difference between this, and the other coalgebra is most easily seen in the
for