Equivalent definitions of the preprojective algebra

Abstract

Following the article of C. M. Ringel we introduce preprojective algebras of a Dynkin quiver $Q$ starting from three definitions which, despite concerning completely different algebraic structures, turn out to be equivalent. Our main result is a new version of Ringel's proofs that applies a theorem by Happel and exploits the techniques of homological algebra. Moreover we show that the definition of the preprojective algebra given with the usual notion of commutator is equivalent to the definition with the "generalised" commutator.