A comparison of group algebras of dihedral and quaternion groups

摘要

The group algebras of the generalised quaternion groups and the dihedral groups of order a power of 2 are compared. Their group algebras over a finite field of characteristic 2 are known to be non-isomorphic and several new proofs of this are given which may be of independent interest. However, the two group algebras are very similar and are shown to have many ring theoretic properties in common. Lastly, the semisimple case (where the characteristic of the field is greater than 2) is considered and the minimum noncommutative counterexample to the Isomorphism Problem is identified.