Conjugate product of a quadratic ideal

ID: conjugate-product-of-a-quadratic-ideal

For a nonzero integral ideal of the full ring of integers of a number field of degree two,
Here conjugation is the nonidentity field automorphism and is the additive index of the ideal. A direct proof writes in an integral basis . Put , , . The ideal property gives . Moreover : a prime dividing all three would make an algebraic integer, contradicting its nonintegral coefficient of . The product of with its conjugate contains , so Bezout identity puts in it; all its generators lie in . Scaling back gives , and the lattice determinant identifies . The full ring of integers is essential to the integrality argument.

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