Characteristic of Quaternion Algebra Over Fields

Abstract

Quaternion is an extension of the complex number system. Quaternion are discovered by formulating 4 points in 4-dimensional vector space using the cross product between two standard vectors. Quaternion algebra over a field is a 4-dimensional vector space with bases  and the elements of the algebra are members of the field. Each element in quaternion algebra has an inverse, despite the fact that the ring is not commutative. Based on this, the purpose of this study is to obtain the characteristics of split quaternion algebra and determine how it interacts with central simple algebra. The research method used in this paper is literature study on quaternion algebra, field and central simple algebra. The results of this study establish the equivalence of split quaternion algebra as well as the theorem relating central simple algebra and quaternion algebra. The conclusion obtained from this study is that split quaternion algebra has five different characteristics and quaternion algebra is a central simple algebra with dimensions less than equal to four.