Representations of Quivers

Fall 2009, University of Iowa

Contact Information

Name: Dr. Calin Chindris
Address: Department of Mathematics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52246, U.S.A.
Office: 1N MLH
Phone: (319) 335-0764
Email: calin-chindris@uiowa.edu (or cchindri@math.uiowa.edu)
Webpage: http://www.math.uiowa.edu/~cchindri
Office hours: MW 10:30-11:30AM, F 11:00-12:00PM

Course Information

Course description: A quiver is just a directed graph and a quiver representation assigns a vector space to each vertex and a linear map to each arrow. Quivers and their representations occur naturally in the representation theory of algebras but they also have interesting connections with other areas such as the representation theory of general linear groups (tensor product multiplicities), root systems for Lie algebras, cluster algebras, algebraic geometry (quotient varieties) and physics (string theory). The first part of the course covers classical aspects of the theory including Gabriel's famous classification of quivers of finite representation type and root systems for quivers. The second part of the course is an introduction to quiver invariant theory. The main objects of study are the algebras of semi-invariants and stability conditions of quivers. The goal is to provide a general framework for understanding and solving a series of important problems revolving around tensor product multiplicities for GLn (Knutson-Tao saturation theorem, Okounkov's log-concavity (ex)-conjecture) and cluster algebras (categorification, cluster fans).

Prerequisites: Standard courses in algebra at the level of 22M:205 and 22M:206. (I will try to make the course essentially self-contained.)

Grading: Based on attendence and ocassional homework problems.

Syllabus: Lecture 22M:330:002

Required Textbook: None. The following online lecture notes will also be useful for the course:


Standard reference books for representations of finite dimensional algebras are:

  • Ibrahim Assem, Daniel Simson, Andrzej Skowronski, Elements of the representation theory of associative algebras. Vol. 1,2,3. London Mathematical Society Student Texts, 65. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  • Maurice Auslander, Idun Reiten, Sverre Smalo, Representation theory of Artin algebras. Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics, 36. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995. xiv+423 pp.