Classification of two dimensional algebras

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I am interested in find up to isomorphisms all two dimensional algebras (associative and with unit) over a field $K$.

I have proceeded as follows:

I know that every finite dimensional algebra is isomorphic to an subalgebra of $M_n(K)$.

So, I have looked for all subalgebras of $M_2(K)$ and I have found \begin{bmatrix}{K}&{0}\\{0}&{K}\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}{K}&{0}\\{K}&{K}\end{bmatrix} and \begin{bmatrix}{K}&{K}\\{0}&{K}\end{bmatrix} Are they all two dimensional $K$-algebras?

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Note that the upper and lower triangular matrix subalgebras you have chosen are obviously $3$ dimensional.

Doing the classification by searching for all subalgebras is going to be a rough go, especially considering you may have trouble seeing which ones are mutually isomorphic. I'd suggest realizing them as quotients of a polynomial ring: in this case, $K[X]$ suffices.

We can pick $1$ as a basis element, and then select something linearly independent, say $x$. Map from $K[X]$ onto $A$ with the rule $k\mapsto k$ for all $k\in K\subseteq K[X]$, and $X\mapsto x$. This uniquely determines an algebra homomorphism to $A$. It is necessarily surjective since the image is at least two dimensional. By the first isomorphism theorem $K[X]/(f)\cong A$ for some quadratic monic polynomial $f$.

There are three possibilities:

  1. $f$ is irreducible
  2. $f$ has two distinct linear factors
  3. $f$ has one linear factor of multiplicity 2

I leave it to you to describe these resulting rings in plain terms.

Note that the first case can’t happen when $K$ is quadratically closed , but the other two cases happen for any field.


It would be a good exercise to now go back and demonstrate some examples realized as $2\times 2$ matrices! I will list a set and you can work out which is which

$\left\{\begin{bmatrix}a&0 \\ 0 &b\end{bmatrix}\,\middle|\,a,b\in\mathbb R\right\}$.

$\left\{\begin{bmatrix}a&b \\ -b &a\end{bmatrix}\,\middle|\,a,b\in\mathbb R\right\}$

$\left\{\begin{bmatrix}a&b \\ 0 &a\end{bmatrix}\,\middle|\,a,b\in\mathbb R\right\}$.