On Trace for Modules

Abstract

Classically, trace was defined as the sum of the diagonal entries of a square matrix with entries in a field. This notion played an important role in classical mathematics, e.g. in the theory of algebras over a field of characteristic zero, and in the theory of group characters (as in [1]). A generalization to endomorphisms of a finitely generated projective module over any ring R with unit is well-known. For such a module P the canonical homomorphism Ψ: P* ⊗ P→ EndR(P) is an isomorphism. Then the composite ε˚Ψ-1: EndR(P) → P* ↗ P→ R, where e denotes “evaluation”, is a homomorphism which coincides with the classical trace whenever P is free. This version of trace has been used by Hattori [3] and others to study projective modules. However, this approach to trace is limited to the finitely generated projective modules, since it can be shown that Ψ is an isomorphism if and only if P is finitely generated and projective.