In mathematics, in particular abstract algebra, a graded ring is a ring such that the underlying additive group is a direct sum of abelian groups R_i such that R_i R_j \subseteq R_{i+j}. The index set is usually the set of nonnegative integers or the set of integers, but can be any monoid. The direct sum decomposition is usually referred to as gradation or grading. A graded module is defined similarly (see below for the precise definition). It generalizes graded vector spaces. A graded module that is also a graded ring is called a graded algebra. A graded ring could also be viewed as a graded \Z-algebra. The associativity is not important (in fact not used at all) in the definition of a graded ring; hence, the notion applies to non-associative algebras as well; e.g., one can consider a graded Lie algebra.

First properties

Generally, the index set of a graded ring is assumed to be the set of nonnegative integers, unless otherwise explicitly specified. This is the case in this article. A graded ring is a ring that is decomposed into a direct sum of additive groups, such that for all nonnegative integers m and n. A nonzero element of R_n is said to be homogeneous of degree n. By definition of a direct sum, every nonzero element a of R can be uniquely written as a sum where each a_i is either 0 or homogeneous of degree i. The nonzero a_i are the homogeneous components of a. Some basic properties are: An ideal is homogeneous, if for every a \in I, the homogeneous components of a also belong to I. (Equivalently, if it is a graded submodule of R; see .) The intersection of a homogeneous ideal I with R_n is an R_0-submodule of R_n called the homogeneous part of degree n of I. A homogeneous ideal is the direct sum of its homogeneous parts. If I is a two-sided homogeneous ideal in R, then R/I is also a graded ring, decomposed as where I_n is the homogeneous part of degree n of I.

Basic examples

Graded module

The corresponding idea in module theory is that of a graded module, namely a left module M over a graded ring R such that and for every i and j. Examples: A morphism f: N \to M of graded modules, called a graded morphism or graded homomorphism, is a homomorphism of the underlying modules that respects grading; i.e., f(N_i) \subseteq M_i. A graded submodule is a submodule that is a graded module in own right and such that the set-theoretic inclusion is a morphism of graded modules. Explicitly, a graded module N is a graded submodule of M if and only if it is a submodule of M and satisfies N_i = N \cap M_i. The kernel and the image of a morphism of graded modules are graded submodules. Remark: To give a graded morphism from a graded ring to another graded ring with the image lying in the center is the same as to give the structure of a graded algebra to the latter ring. Given a graded module M, the \ell-twist of M is a graded module defined by (cf. Serre's twisting sheaf in algebraic geometry). Let M and N be graded modules. If is a morphism of modules, then f is said to have degree d if. An exterior derivative of differential forms in differential geometry is an example of such a morphism having degree 1.

Invariants of graded modules

Given a graded module M over a commutative graded ring R, one can associate the formal power series P(M, t) \in \Z[![t]!]: (assuming \ell(M_n) are finite.) It is called the Hilbert–Poincaré series of M. A graded module is said to be finitely generated if the underlying module is finitely generated. The generators may be taken to be homogeneous (by replacing the generators by their homogeneous parts.) Suppose R is a polynomial ring k[x_0, \dots, x_n], k a field, and M a finitely generated graded module over it. Then the function is called the Hilbert function of M. The function coincides with the integer-valued polynomial for large n called the Hilbert polynomial of M.

Graded algebra

An associative algebra A over a ring R is a graded algebra if it is graded as a ring. In the usual case where the ring R is not graded (in particular if R is a field), it is given the trivial grading (every element of R is of degree 0). Thus, and the graded pieces A_i are R-modules. In the case where the ring R is also a graded ring, then one requires that In other words, we require A to be a graded left module over R. Examples of graded algebras are common in mathematics: Graded algebras are much used in commutative algebra and algebraic geometry, homological algebra, and algebraic topology. One example is the close relationship between homogeneous polynomials and projective varieties (cf. Homogeneous coordinate ring.)

G-graded rings and algebras

The above definitions have been generalized to rings graded using any monoid G as an index set. A G-graded ring R is a ring with a direct sum decomposition such that Elements of R that lie inside R_i for some i \in G are said to be homogeneous of grade i. The previously defined notion of "graded ring" now becomes the same thing as an \N-graded ring, where \N is the monoid of natural numbers under addition. The definitions for graded modules and algebras can also be extended this way replacing the indexing set \N with any monoid G. Remarks: Examples:

Anticommutativity

Some graded rings (or algebras) are endowed with an anticommutative structure. This notion requires a homomorphism of the monoid of the gradation into the additive monoid of \Z/2\Z, the field with two elements. Specifically, a signed monoid consists of a pair where \Gamma is a monoid and is a homomorphism of additive monoids. An anticommutative \Gamma-graded ring is a ring A graded with respect to \Gamma such that: for all homogeneous elements x and y.

Examples

Graded monoid

Intuitively, a graded monoid is the subset of a graded ring,, generated by the R_n's, without using the additive part. That is, the set of elements of the graded monoid is. Formally, a graded monoid is a monoid (M,\cdot), with a gradation function such that. Note that the gradation of 1_M is necessarily 0. Some authors request furthermore that when m is not the identity. Assuming the gradations of non-identity elements are non-zero, the number of elements of gradation n is at most g^n where g is the cardinality of a generating set G of the monoid. Therefore the number of elements of gradation n or less is at most n+1 (for g=1) or else. Indeed, each such element is the product of at most n elements of G, and only such products exist. Similarly, the identity element can not be written as the product of two non-identity elements. That is, there is no unit divisor in such a graded monoid.

Power series indexed by a graded monoid

These notions allow us to extend the notion of power series ring. Instead of the indexing family being \mathbb N, the indexing family could be any graded monoid, assuming that the number of elements of degree n is finite, for each integer n. More formally, let be an arbitrary semiring and a graded monoid. Then denotes the semiring of power series with coefficients in K indexed by R. Its elements are functions from R to K. The sum of two elements is defined pointwise, it is the function sending m\in R to, and the product is the function sending m\in R to the infinite sum. This sum is correctly defined (i.e., finite) because, for each m, there are only a finite number of pairs (p, q) such that pq = m.

Free monoid

In formal language theory, given an alphabet A, the free monoid of words over A can be considered as a graded monoid, where the gradation of a word is its length.

Citations