October 23, 2009

Totally ramified extensions

Posted by Akhil Mathew under algebra, algebraic number theory, number theory | Tags: , , , |
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Today we consider the case of a totally ramified extension of local fields {K \subset L}, with residue fields {\overline{K}, \overline{L}}—recall that this means {e=[L:K]=n,f=1}. It turns out that there is a similar characterization as for unramified extensions. (more…)

 

September 12, 2009

e, f, and the remainder theorem

Posted by Akhil Mathew under algebra, algebraic number theory, commutative algebra, number theory | Tags: , , |
1 Comment 

So, now to the next topic in introductory algebraic number theory: ramification. This is a measure of how primes “split.”  (No, definitely wrong word there…)

e and f 

Fix a Dedekind domain {A} with quotient field {K}; let {L} be a finite separable extension of {K}, and {B} the integral closure of {A} in {L}. We know that {B} is a Dedekind domain.

(By the way, I’m now assuming that readers have been following the past few posts or so on these topics.)

Given a prime {\mathfrak{p} \subset A}, there is a prime {\mathfrak{P} \subset B} lying above {\mathfrak{p}}. I hinted at the proof in the previous post, but to save time and avoid too much redundancy I’ll refer interested readers to this post.

Now, we can do a prime factorization of {\mathfrak{p}B \subset B,} say {\mathfrak{p}B = \mathfrak{P}_1^{e_1} \dots \mathfrak{P}_g^{e_g}}. The primes {\mathfrak{P}_i} contain {\mathfrak{p}B} and consequently lie above {\mathfrak{p}}. Conversely, any prime of {B} containing {\mathfrak{p}B} must lie above {\mathfrak{p}}, since if {I} is an ideal in a Dedekind domain contained in a prime ideal {P}, then {P} occurs in the prime factorization of {I} (to see this, localize and work in a DVR). (more…)