Theorems of Burnside and Wedderburn revisited

Abstract

We approach celebrated theorems of Burnside and Wedderburn via simultaneous triangularization. First, for a general field $F$, we prove that $M_n(F)$ is the only irrreducible subalgebra of triangularizable matrices in $M_n(F)$ provided such a subalgebra exists. This provides a slight generalization of a well-known theorem of Burnside. Next, for a given $n > 1$, we characterize all fields $F$ such that Burnside's Theorem holds in $M_n(F)$, i.e., $M_n(F)$ is the only irreducible subalgebra of itself. In fact, for a subfield $F$ of the center of a division ring $D$, our simple proof of the aforementioned extension of Burnside's Theorem can be adjusted to establish a Burnside type theorem for irreducible $F$-algebras of triangularizable matrices in $M_n(D)$ with inner eigenvalues in $F$, namely such subalgebras of $M_n(D)$ are similar to $M_n(F)$. We use Burnside's theorem to present a simple proof of a theorem due to Wedderburn. Then, we use our Burnside type theorem to prove an extension of Wedderburn's Theorem as follows: A subalgebra of a semi-simple left Artinian $F$-algebra is nilpotent iff the algebra, as a vector space over the field $F$, is spanned by its nilpotent members and that the minimal polynomials of all of its members split into linear factors over $F$. We conclude with an application of Wedderburn's Theorem.