In mathematics, an Azumaya algebra is a generalization of central simple algebras to -algebras where need not be a field. Such a notion was introduced in a 1951 paper of Goro Azumaya, for the case where is a commutative local ring. The notion was developed further in ring theory, and in algebraic geometry, where Alexander Grothendieck made it the basis for his geometric theory of the Brauer group in Bourbaki seminars from 1964–65. There are now several points of access to the basic definitions.
