A corollary of Schur's lemma reads (nLab):
In the case that the ground field is an algebraically closed field of
characteristic zero; endomorphisms $\psi:V \rightarrow V$ of a finite dimensional
irreducible representations V are a multiple $c \cdot \textrm{Id}$ of the identity
operator.
The proof given in section 3 of the nLab page does not explicitly state that it uses the characteristic being zero.
- Where does the proof fail when the ground field is algebraically closed but of positive characteristic?
- What are some positive characteristic counter-examples?
- Is there a weaker form that works in positive characteristic?
Best Answer
It works perfectly well in arbitrary characteristic, with the same proof : over an algebraically closed field, in finite dimension, $\psi$ has an eigenvalue $c$ thus $\ker(\psi-c.id)\neq 0$ is a subrepresentation, therefore it is the whole of $V$, so $\psi = c.id$