Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/iii/paper-136/2/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 136 2 a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
For a finite extension of local fields, let be its ramification index and its residue-field degree. An unramified extension has . A totally ramified extension has , equivalently . A tamely ramified extension has separable residue extension and ramification index coprime to the residue characteristic.
Let generate the finite extension , and let be its minimal polynomial. Lift to a monic and choose any lift of . Since finite fields are perfect fields, . The simple-root form of Hensel lemma, applied inside , gives withSet . Its residue field contains , soThe equation gives the reverse inequality. Thus , its residue-field degree is , and ; hence is unramified. Since , the extension has residue-field degree one and is totally ramified. This constructs the maximal unramified subextension of a local field extension.
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