Sheaves that fail to represent matrix rings

There are two fundamental obstructions to representing noncommutative rings via sheaves. First, there is no subcanonical coverage on the opposite of the category of rings that includes all covering families in the big Zariski site. Second, there is no contravariant functor F from the category of rings to the category of ringed categories whose composite with the global sections functor is naturally isomorphic to the identity, such that F restricts to the Zariski spectrum functor Spec on the category of commutative rings (in a compatible way with the natural isomorphism). Both of these no-go results are proved by restricting attention to matrix rings.Comment: 13 pages; final versio

A prime ideal principle for two-sided ideals

Many classical ring-theoretic results state that an ideal that is maximal with respect to satisfying a special property must be prime. We present a "Prime Ideal Principle" that gives a uniform method of proving such facts, generalizing the Prime Ideal Principle for commutative rings due to T.Y. Lam and the author. Old and new "maximal implies prime" results are presented, with results touching on annihilator ideals, polynomial identity rings, the Artin-Rees property, Dedekind-finite rings, principal ideals generated by normal elements, strongly noetherian algebras, and just infinite algebras.Comment: 22 page

On discretization of C*-algebras

The C*-algebra of bounded operators on the separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert space cannot be mapped to a W*-algebra in such a way that each unital commutative C*-subalgebra C(X) factors normally through $\ell^\infty(X)$. Consequently, there is no faithful functor discretizing C*-algebras to AW*-algebras, including von Neumann algebras, in this way.Comment: 5 pages. Please note that arXiv:1607.03376 supersedes this paper. It significantly strengthens the main results and includes positive results on discretization of C*-algebra

The finite dual coalgebra as a quantization of the maximal spectrum

In pursuit of a noncommutative spectrum functor, we argue that the Heyneman-Sweedler finite dual coalgebra can be viewed as a quantization of the maximal spectrum of a commutative affine algebra, integrating prior perspectives of Takeuchi, Batchelor, Kontsevich-Soibelman, and Le Bruyn. We introduce fully residually finite-dimensional algebras $A$ as those with enough finite-dimensional representations to let $A^\circ$ act as an appropriate depiction of the noncommutative maximal spectrum of $A$; importantly, this class includes affine noetherian PI algebras. We investigate cases where the finite dual coalgebra of a twisted tensor product is a crossed product coalgebra of the respective finite duals. This is achieved by interpreting the finite dual as a topological dual. Sufficient conditions for this result to be applied to Ore extensions, smash product algebras, and crossed product bialgebras are described. In the case of prime affine algebras that are module-finite over their center, we describe how the Azumaya locus is represented in the finite dual. Finally, we implement these techniques for quantum planes at roots of unity as an endeavor to visualize the noncommutative space on which these algebras act as functions.Comment: 56 pages, 2 figures. Some corrections made to Subsection 2.2. Comments appreciated

Contextuality and Kochen-Specker colorings of integer vectors

This note exhibits a new set of 85 three-dimensional integer vectors that has no Kochen-Specker coloring. These vectors represent rank-1 projection matrices with entries in the rational subring $\mathbb{Z}[1/462]$. Consequences are given for (non)contextuality in a purely algebraic sense for partial rings of symmetric matrices over finitely generated rational subrings and $p$-adic integers.Comment: 8 page

Growth of Graded Twisted Calabi-Yau Algebras

We initiate a study of the growth and matrix-valued Hilbert series of non-negatively graded twisted Calabi-Yau algebras that are homomorphic images of path algebras of weighted quivers, generalizing techniques previously used to investigate Artin-Schelter regular algebras and graded Calabi-Yau algebras. Several results are proved without imposing any assumptions on the degrees of generators or relations of the algebras. We give particular attention to twisted Calabi-Yau algebras of dimension d at most 3, giving precise descriptions of their matrix-valued Hilbert series and partial results describing which underlying quivers yield algebras of finite GK-dimension. For d = 2, we show that these are algebras with mesh relations. For d = 3, we show that the resulting algebras are a kind of derivation-quotient algebra arising from an element that is similar to a twisted superpotential.Comment: 49 page

Categories of hypermagmas, hypergroups, and related hyperstructures

In order to diagnose the cause of some defects in the category of canonical hypergroups, we investigate several categories of hyperstructures that generalize hypergroups. By allowing hyperoperations with possibly empty products, one obtains categories with desirable features such as completeness and cocompleteness, free functors, regularity, and closed monoidal structures. We show by counterexamples that such constructions cannot be carried out within the category of canonical hypergroups. This suggests that (commutative) unital, reversible hypermagmas -- which we call mosaics -- form a worthwhile generalization of (canonical) hypergroups from the categorical perspective. Notably, mosaics contain pointed simple matroids as a subcategory, and projective geometries as a full subcategory.Comment: 48 pages, 3 figure

Graded twisted Calabi-Yau algebras are generalized Artin-Schelter regular

This is a general study of twisted Calabi-Yau algebras that are $\mathbb{N}$-graded and locally finite-dimensional, with the following major results. We prove that a locally finite graded algebra is twisted Calabi-Yau if and only if it is separable modulo its graded radical and satisfies one of several suitable generalizations of the Artin-Schelter regularity property, adapted from the work of Martinez-Villa as well as Minamoto and Mori. We characterize twisted Calabi-Yau algebras of dimension 0 as separable $k$-algebras, and we similarly characterize graded twisted Calabi-Yau algebras of dimension 1 as tensor algebras of certain invertible bimodules over separable algebras. Finally, we prove that a graded twisted Calabi-Yau algebra of dimension 2 is noetherian if and only if it has finite GK dimension.Comment: 54 pages. Title has been changed (formerly titled "A twisted Calabi-Yau toolkit"). Revisions to the writing throughou

A one-sided Prime Ideal Principle for noncommutative rings

Completely prime right ideals are introduced as a one-sided generalization of the concept of a prime ideal in a commutative ring. Some of their basic properties are investigated, pointing out both similarities and differences between these right ideals and their commutative counterparts. We prove the Completely Prime Ideal Principle, a theorem stating that right ideals that are maximal in a specific sense must be completely prime. We offer a number of applications of the Completely Prime Ideal Principle arising from many diverse concepts in rings and modules. These applications show how completely prime right ideals control the one-sided structure of a ring, and they recover earlier theorems stating that certain noncommutative rings are domains (namely, proper right PCI rings and rings with the right restricted minimum condition that are not right artinian). In order to provide a deeper understanding of the set of completely prime right ideals in a general ring, we study the special subset of comonoform right ideals.Comment: 38 page

Diagonalizing matrices over AW*-algebras

Every commuting set of normal matrices with entries in an AW*-algebra can be simultaneously diagonalized. To establish this, a dimension theory for properly infinite projections in AW*-algebras is developed. As a consequence, passing to matrix rings is a functor on the category of AW*-algebras.Comment: 24 pages. Comments very welcome