Deformation theory studies the behavior of mathematical objects, such as representations or modules, under small perturbations. This theory is useful in both pure and applied mathematics and has been used in the proof of many long-standing problems. In particular, in number theory Wiles and Taylor used universal deformation rings of Galois representations in the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. The main motivation for determining universal deformation rings of modules for finite dimensional algebras is that deep results from representation theory can be used to arrive at a better understanding of deformation rings. In this thesis, I study the universal deformation rings of certain modules for algebras of dihedral type of polynomial growth which have been completely classied by Erdmann and Skowronski using quivers and relations. More precisely, let κ be an algebraically closed field and let λ be a κ-algebra of dihedral type which is of polynomial growth. In this thesis, first classify all λ-modules whose stable endomorphism ring is isomorphic to κ and which are given combinatorially by strings, and then I determine the universal deformation ring of each of these modules.

In this thesis, I apply methods from the representation theory of finite dimensional algebras to the study of versal and universal deformation rings. The main idea is that more sophisticated results from representation theory can be used to arrive at a deeper understanding of deformation rings. Such rings arise naturally in a variety of problems in number theory and group representation theory. This thesis has two parts. In the first part, Λ is an arbitrary finite dimensional algebra over a field k. If V is a finitely generated Λ-module, I prove that V has a versal deformation ring R(Λ, V ). Moreover, if Λ is self-injective and the stable endomorphism ring of V is isomorphic to k, then R(Λ, V ) is universal. If additionally A is a Frobenius algebra and Ω(Λ) denotes the syzygy operator over Λ, I show that the universal deformation rings of V and Ω(V) are isomorphic. In the second part, I analyze a particular finite dimensional Frobenius algebra Λ over an algebraically closed field k for which all the finitely generated indecomposable modules can be described combinatorially by using certain words in Λ. I use this description to visualize the indecomposable Λ-modules in the stable Auslander-Reiten quiver of Λ and determine all the components of this stable Auslander-Reiten quiver which contain Λ-modules whose endomorphism ring is isomorphic to k. Finally I determine the universal deformation rings of all the modules in these components whose stable endomorphism ring is isomorphic to k.

This thesis is on the representation theory of finite groups. Specifically, it is about finding connections between fusion and universal deformation rings. Two elements of a subgroup N of a finite group Γ are said to be fused if they are conjugate in Γ, but not in N. The study of fusion arises in trying to relate the local structure of Γ (for example, its subgroups and their embeddings) to the global structure of Γ (for example, its normal subgroups, quotient groups, conjugacy classes). Fusion is also important to understand the representation theory of Γ (for example, through the formula for the induction of a character from N to Γ). Universal deformation rings of irreducible mod p representations of Γcan be viewed as providing a universal generalization of the Brauer character theory of these mod p representations of Γ. It is the aim of this thesis to connect fusion to this universal generalization by considering the case when Γ is an extension of a finite group G of order prime to p by an elementary abelian p-group N of rank 2. We obtain a complete answer in the case when G is a dihedral group, and we also consider the case when G is abelian. On the way, we compute for many absolutely irreducible FpΓ-modules V, the cohomology groups H2(Γ,HomFp(V,V) for i = 1, 2, and also the universal deformation rings R(Γ,V).

在本碩士論文中, 我們闡述了投射有限群表現, 以及其形變理論。 我們亦特別研究這些表示在 GL_1 和 GL_2 之形變, 並且給了可表示化 的判定準則。 最後, 我們解釋相對應的泛形變環之扎里斯基切空間與 群餘調之關連, 並計算了 GL_1 的泛形變表現。 / In this master thesis, we give an exposition of the deformation theory of representations for GL_1 and GL_2, respectively, of certain profinite groups. We give rigidity conditions of the fixed representation and verify several conditions for the representability. Finally, we interpret the Zariski tangent spaces of respective universal deformation rings as certain group cohomology and calculate the universal deformation for GL_1.