Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 3 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The coordinate ring is . The induced action is contragredient on functions:It is a group action by degree-preserving algebra automorphisms, extending the dual action on linear polynomial functions. Its polynomial invariant ring isFor a monic polynomial , its polynomial discriminant is . This is symmetric in the roots, hence polynomial in the coefficients, and is zero exactly when a root is repeated.
For the alternating group action, let be the elementary symmetric polynomials and put . If is -invariant and is any transposition, decomposeNormality and index two of show that is symmetric and transforms by the sign character of . Any alternating polynomial vanishes when , so every divides it. These pairwise nonassociate prime factors have product , so with symmetric. The Fundamental theorem of symmetric polynomials yieldsThe sum is direct, since a polynomial that is both symmetric and alternating is zero in characteristic zero. Also , where is the discriminant polynomial ofThus, more precisely than the requested quotient assertion,Surjectivity follows from the direct-sum expression. Divide any putative kernel element by the monic quadratic in ; its remainder is . The direct sum forces , and algebraic independence of the gives . Hence the displayed relation is the entire kernel. The argument also covers , where is trivial.
Now let be finite with no nontrivial linear characters, and write , . The polynomial ring is a unique factorization domain. Factor a nonzero invariant in ; invariance permutes the associate classes of its irreducible factors and makes their exponents constant on each orbit. For an orbit , choose representatives and form its orbit product of polynomial factorsFor every , for a nonzero scalar . Applying two group elements proves that is a homomorphism. The hypothesis forces , so .
This orbit product is prime in . If it divides with , one factor divides or in . Invariance of that chosen polynomial makes every factor in the orbit divide it. Their product therefore divides it in , and the quotient is invariant because numerator and denominator are invariant and cancellation is valid in the integral domain . Thus divides or in . Every nonzero is a scalar times a product of these prime orbit products, and the only units of are nonzero constants, as they are units in . Therefore is a unique factorization domain. This gives a direct proof, without assuming a divisor-class-group theorem.
For a failure in characteristic zero, let the cyclic group of order two act on by . Its coordinate invariants areEvery invariant monomial has even total degree: its exponents are either both even, or both odd, giving the indicated generators. Reducing powers of to at most one shows that is the only relation, since and map to distinct monomials. The three quadratic invariants are irreducible in : each nonconstant invariant has degree at least two, so a product of two nonunits has degree at least four. They are pairwise nonassociate, butgives two different irreducible factorizations. Hence this invariant ring is not a unique factorization domain. The nontrivial sign character is precisely the kind of character excluded in the preceding theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 1 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The endomorphisms of the finite-dimensional vector space over the complex numbers form the general linear Lie algebra with the usual addition and scalar multiplication and Lie bracket . This commutator is bilinear and antisymmetric, and expanding the six products verifies the Jacobi identity.
For a Lie subalgebra , being an abelian Lie algebra means . A nilpotent Lie algebra has , eventually zero; a solvable Lie algebra has , eventually zero. These are the lower central series of a Lie algebra and derived series of a Lie algebra, respectively. Nilpotence is a condition on the Lie bracket, and does not require every member to be a nilpotent endomorphism: a nonzero scalar multiple of the identity spans an abelian Lie algebra.
A flag of a vector space is an increasing chain of vector subspaces. The flag we construct is a complete flag, , where , and each is an invariant subspace for . We first prove the common-eigenvector assertion in the Lie theorem, by induction on ; the zero algebra is immediate. For nonzero solvable , its derived algebra is proper, so there is a codimension-one ideal of a Lie algebra containing . Write . By induction there are and a linear functional on such that for every .
Let be the cyclic subspace spanned by . The commutator derivation identity and show inductively thatThus and all its initial cyclic spans are -invariant. If , the first cyclic vectors form a basis, is also -invariant, and . For , the trace of a matrix commutator givesHence , since the field has characteristic zero. The nonzero common weight spaceis -invariant: . The restriction of to has an eigenvector, because is an algebraically closed field. This is a common eigenvector for . Its line is invariant, and repeating the argument on the quotient vector space gives the complete invariant flag. Equivalently, this proves simultaneous triangularization of a Lie algebra representation.
In a basis adapted to this complete flag, every member of is upper triangular, so every member of its derived algebra is strictly upper triangular. Products of strictly upper triangular matrices vanish, and each iterated Lie bracket of such matrices is a sum of these products. Consequently the derived algebra is a nilpotent Lie algebra. We may therefore take : it is an ideal, and the quotient Lie algebra is abelian. This also covers .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 13 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
A ring homomorphism is understood to preserve . Start with . Its map on spectra of rings isContraction gives a prime ideal, and . Thus is continuous for the Zariski topology. On each principal open subscheme, the structure sheaf map is the ring homomorphismThese maps commute with restrictions, so they define a sheaf morphism . At , with , its stalk map is . The inverse image of the maximal ideal is , so this is a local homomorphism. We have constructed a morphism of locally ringed spaces.
Conversely, let be a morphism of locally ringed spaces. Its map on global sections gives , using and . Fix and put . Compatibility with the stalk maps and the local homomorphism property giveConsequently , so the underlying map is forced. On , the sheaf morphism is forced as well: it extends and sends to a unit, hence agrees with the displayed map by the universal property of localization. The principal open subschemes form a basis, so the entire sheaf morphism is determined. Taking global sections of the construction recovers . The two constructions are inverse, proving the affine-target adjunction for schemes in the affine-source case:
To describe the real affine plane scheme points, write . It is a unique factorization domain of Krull dimension two. Its points are exactly the following prime ideals:
- , the generic point of the whole affine plane.
- for each nonconstant irreducible polynomial , taken up to multiplication by a nonzero real constant. These are the height-one points, each the generic point of the integral scheme .
- The maximal ideals, or closed points. By the Zariski lemma, their residue fields are finite algebraic extensions of . Because is a real closed field, those fields are or . The first type is with . The second type is the kernel of evaluation at a nonreal pair ; the pairs and give the same maximal ideal, and these are the only repetitions.
For completeness, any height-one prime ideal contains an irreducible polynomial ; since is already a height-one prime ideal, it must equal . Every remaining nonzero prime ideal has height two and is maximal, by Krull dimension. For a nonreal pair, evaluation generates all of over , so its kernel is maximal. Conversely, each residue field isomorphic to has exactly the two conjugate real-algebra embeddings into , proving the assertion about repetitions.
This describes the topology too: consists of the prime ideals containing , and the closure of a point is . In particular, the closure of is the whole affine plane, while the closure of contains precisely the closed points on , together with itself. The spectrum is much larger than the set . For example, is a height-one point although its curve has no real points. Its structure sheaf has and stalk at .
The induced morphism of schemesis contraction of prime ideals, with the structure sheaf maps given above. On closed points, it sends to the kernel of real-polynomial evaluation at . A real closed point has one complex point above it; a nonreal closed point has two, interchanged by complex conjugation. The source generic point maps to the target generic point. The source height-one points are generated by irreducible complex polynomials . Their contractions are height-one prime ideals , and is a factor of over . An irreducible real either stays irreducible over or splits into two distinct conjugate irreducible factors. Indeed, complex conjugation acts transitively on its distinct factors, or a proper orbit product would give a real factor of ; every orbit has size at most two. Repeated factors are excluded by separability in characteristic zero. Thus one or two height-one points lie above .
The complexification fibres of a real scheme give a uniform description of all scheme-theoretic fibres, including the nonclosed points, is especially useful. The extension of coordinate rings isa free -module with basis . At , with residue field , the scheme-theoretic fibre isIf is a square in , the Chinese remainder theorem gives , hence two points. Otherwise it is a quadratic field extension, hence one point. The polynomial has no repeated root in characteristic zero, so all these scheme-theoretic fibres are reduced schemes. This also proves surjectivity. Conjugation acts on each two-point fibre by exchanging its points and fixes each one-point fibre. As a finite morphism, is closed, so its underlying topological space is the quotient by complex conjugation. The fibre formula explains why a real closed point gives one complex point, whereas the generic point gives a single point with residue field .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 5 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Maschke's theorem makes the group algebra semisimple, since is a finite group and the ground field has characteristic zero. By the Artin–Wedderburn theorem, write . Its simple modules give exactly the nonisomorphic irreducible complex group representations.
The center of each matrix algebra consists of scalar matrices, so . On the other hand, an element is central precisely when its coefficients are constant on conjugacy classes. The sums of the elements in the separate conjugacy classes are therefore a basis of the center. Hence the number of irreducible complex representations equals the number of conjugacy classes.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 2 3 Solution 2026-10-06
Work over . Decompose as the direct sum of the generalized eigenspaces of . Define to be on and set . Then is a diagonalisable endomorphism, is a nilpotent endomorphism, and they commute. For uniqueness, any commuting decomposition has and commuting with , hence preserving each . Decompose further into eigenspaces of . On a nonzero such space with eigenvalue , the operator has only the eigenvalue , so . Since is diagonalizable, throughout . Thus and . This is the Additive Jordan decomposition.
The Chinese remainder theorem for the pairwise coprime polynomials also gives a polynomial with , where is the largest Jordan block size. Consequently and . This polynomial description shows that both parts preserve every -invariant subspace.
On the operator is the scalar , so it is diagonalizable. The nilpotence of commutation by a nilpotent endomorphism makes nilpotent. They commute, since . Uniqueness of the Additive Jordan decomposition therefore gives the adjoint compatibility of additive Jordan decomposition:Now let be a complex semisimple Lie algebra and . Since the semisimple part of is a polynomial in , it preserves . Thus . By the Weyl complete reducibility theorem, the Adjoint representation of on has a decomposition into invariant subspaces. Write with and . For , the vector lies in , and invariance of puts it in as well. Hence .
Decompose into Irreducible Lie algebra representations. Each is preserved by and by , hence by . The Schur lemma makes . A semisimple Lie algebra is a perfect Lie algebra, so every representing element of has zero trace on every . Also , because is nilpotent there. It follows that . In characteristic zero, , so . Therefore and . This proves that semisimple matrix Lie algebras are closed under additive Jordan decomposition, including representations with repeated isomorphic irreducible summands.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 17F i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The Fundamental theorem of Galois theory gives an inclusion-reversing bijection between subgroups and intermediate fields , by and , for a finite Galois extension. One has and . The field is Galois over exactly when is normal; then its Galois group is the quotient by .
Let and . The splitting field is . A splitting field in characteristic zero is normal and separable, hence Galois. Eisenstein criterion at gives . This field is real, whereas is not, and satisfies a quadratic polynomial. Thus . The faithful permutation action on the three roots identifies the Galois group with . The subgroup fixing is generated by the transposition interchanging the other two roots. Its conjugates are different transposition subgroups, so it is not normal.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 101 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An integral domain is an integrally closed domain if every element of its fraction field which is an integral element over belongs to . Explicitly, if satisfiesthen . Thus .
Suppose is a unique factorization domain and is integral, with , , and with no common irreducible element as a factor. Multiplying its monic equation by givesHence divides . Every irreducible element dividing is a prime element, so it would divide , contrary to the choice of the fraction. Therefore is a unit, and . We have proved
The going-down theorem is the following. Let be an integral extension of integral domains with an integrally closed domain. IfthenWe first prove this for a module-finite ring extension and then remove that extra hypothesis. We use the Lying-over theorem, the going-up theorem, and the incomparability theorem for integral extensions: primes exist over every base prime, prime chains can be extended upwards, and distinct primes over the same base prime cannot contain one another. The going-up theorem follows by applying the Lying-over theorem to the quotient by the lower prime. These results concern arbitrary integral extensions; none assumes the going-down theorem.
For the finite case, let and . Since is module-finite, is a finite field extension. Take a finite normal field extension containing , obtained as a splitting field of the minimal polynomials of finitely many field generators. The extension need not be a separable field extension. Let be the integral closure of in . Then , and is integral over both and .
We need one auxiliary fact: the finite group acts transitively on the prime ideals of over any fixed prime ideal of . First observe that an element fixed by all of is a purely inseparable algebraic element over . Indeed, all -embeddings of into an algebraic closure extend to -automorphisms of the normal field extension . Hence the minimal polynomial of an algebraic element has only one distinct root. In characteristic zero this says ; in characteristic it says for some .
Now let be primes of over , and suppose is different from every , . By the incomparability theorem for integral extensions, is contained in none of these conjugate primes. The prime avoidance lemma suppliesThe productis fixed by , is integral over , and lies in because one factor is . Choose an exponent equal to in characteristic zero, or a power of in characteristic , such that . Since is an integrally closed domain, . It also lies in , hence in . Because is a prime ideal, some factor lies in . This means , contradicting our choice. Thus for some , proving transitivity. The power accounts for the possible purely inseparable field extension and makes the argument valid in every characteristic.
Lift the prescribed to a prime of by the Lying-over theorem for . Separately, choose a prime over and use the going-up theorem to find over . Transitivity gives with . ThenContracting to gives with the required contraction. This proves the going-down theorem for the module-finite case.
For a general integral extension , consider and the idealWe claim that is disjoint from . Otherwise, clearing the finitely many denominators in an expression for an element givesThe subalgebra is a module-finite ring extension of , since all its generators are integral elements. Apply the finite case to : there is a prime contracting to . The displayed identity puts in , but . Thus , a contradiction.
Localize further at the multiplicative subset . The extension of is a proper ideal, by the disjointness just proved. Choose a maximal ideal containing it and contract back to a prime ideal of . This prime contains and avoids . Its contraction to lies inside by the prime ideal correspondence for localization, and its contraction to is exactly . This completes the proof of the going-down theorem without any finite generation assumption on .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 102 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Over the complex numbers, every finite-dimensional representation of a solvable Lie algebra has a basis in which every representing matrix is upper triangular. The Lie theorem is often stated first as the existence of a common eigenvector in every nonzero finite-dimensional Lie algebra representation of a solvable Lie algebra. Applying that assertion successively to quotient representations gives an invariant complete flag, and hence the upper triangular form. The same proof works over any algebraically closed field of characteristic zero.
We prove the common eigenvector assertion by induction on , writing the action as . The zero Lie algebra is immediate. If is solvable, its derived series of a Lie algebra shows that . Choose a codimension-one ideal of a Lie algebra containing , and choose . By induction there are and a linear functional such that for all .
Let be the span of . If , the first of these vectors form a basis, and is -invariant. We claim that for each ,For this is the definition of . For the induction step, use and . Applying the induction hypothesis to both and proves the claim. Consequently is -invariant, and every acts on by an upper triangular matrix with all diagonal entries .
Since both and preserve , the matrix trace of their commutator on is zero. The claim applied to givesHere characteristic zero is essential: in the field, so . Now the common weight spaceis nonzero and -invariant. Indeed, for ,An endomorphism of a nonzero finite-dimensional complex vector space has an eigenvector, so choose an eigenvector of in . It is a common eigenvector for . This proves the Lie theorem.
For the printed matrices in characteristic , , and there is no common eigenvector. Index the standard basis by . The cyclic entry in the PDF givesThe diagonal eigenvalues of are distinct in . Thus every eigenvector of is a scalar multiple of a single . Since , is never a scalar multiple of , proving the assertion even when is not an algebraically closed field.
For ,At the cyclic boundary,Hence . The two-dimensional Lie subalgebra has derived algebra , whose own derived algebra is zero, so it is solvable. It nevertheless has no common eigenvector, including after extending to its algebraic closure. This is a failure of Lie theorem in positive characteristic. In the proof above, the obstruction is precisely that can vanish as a scalar in .
The derived algebra of a complex solvable Lie algebra is nilpotent. First suppose . By the Lie theorem, put every element of in upper triangular form. The diagonal of a commutator of upper triangular matrices is zero, so consists of strictly upper triangular matrices. The Lie algebra of all such matrices is a nilpotent Lie algebra: if consists of matrices whose entries vanish whenever , thenTherefore the lower central series of a Lie algebra of reaches zero. Alternatively, every element of is a nilpotent linear map, and the Engel theorem states that a finite-dimensional Lie subalgebra consisting of nilpotent linear maps is a nilpotent Lie algebra.
For an abstract complex solvable Lie algebra , apply the preceding result to its Adjoint representation. The Lie algebra is nilpotent. Since is central in , some term of the lower central series of a Lie algebra of lies in that central ideal; the next term is zero. Thus itself is nilpotent.
Conversely, every nilpotent Lie algebra is solvable, since its derived series of a Lie algebra is contained term by term in its lower central series of a Lie algebra. If is nilpotent, it is therefore solvable, and is Abelian. More directly, the derived series of a Lie algebra of , after its first term, is the derived series of a Lie algebra of . Consequently the derived algebra nilpotence criterion is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 102 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Start with the tensor product of Lie algebra representations, whose action isWriting , the two tensor factors commute, so . This verifies the Lie algebra representation identity over every field.
The exterior square and symmetric square are the quotient vector spacesIn the exterior square, expanding shows that , including in characteristic two. Both defining relation spaces are invariant under the tensor product action: is an exterior relation, and the image of a symmetric relation is a sum of symmetric relations. Thus the quotient actions are well-defined and satisfyFor the printed basis , bases are with and with . Their dimensions are and respectively.
If is invertible in , as representations. Define the flip . It commutes with the Lie algebra action and satisfies . Thereforeare complementary invariant linear projections. The mapsidentify with and with . Their inverses are the corresponding quotient maps restricted to these subspaces. This proves the assertion for every field of odd characteristic, and also for characteristic zero.
Over every field, . The symmetric square of a direct sum isomorphism sends the first two summands into products within and within , and sends to the mixed product . If and are bases, the monomial basis of is the disjoint unionThus the map is bijective, with no division by needed. The Leibniz rule for the action preserves each of these three summands and agrees with its usual Lie algebra representation action, proving equivariance.
For , is trivial and has dimension . HenceIt remains to find the irreducible representations in the symmetric square of the sl3 representation of highest weight (2,1). We give the formal character calculation explicitly.
Let be the defining special linear Lie algebra representation. In Dynkin labels, its weights are , , and ; the dual representation has their negatives. The equivariant contractionis surjective. Its kernel has dimension . The tensor is a highest-weight vector of highest weight in that kernel. By the Weyl complete reducibility theorem, the kernel contains the irreducible representation , whose Weyl dimension formula gives dimension ; therefore the kernel equals . This yieldsMultiplying the six weights of by the three weights of and subtracting those of gives the following full weight multiplicity list:The multiplicities sum to .
For any finite-dimensional weight-space decomposition, a weight of multiplicity contributes to weight in its symmetric square. Distinct weights contribute to . Equivalently,Applying this to the displayed list gives all dominant weight multiplicities in the second column below. The remaining columns are the weight multiplicities of the candidate irreducible representations:For an explicit way to compute each irreducible column, set and use the Weyl character formula in the formA monomial has Dynkin labels . Equivalently, the quotient is enumerated by Semistandard Young tableaux of shape with entries , weakly increasing across rows and strictly increasing down columns; the exponents count the three entries.
The five irreducible columns sum to the column. These are all its dominant weights, and all five candidate characters have no other dominant weights. Every Weyl group orbit meets the dominant chamber, and weight multiplicities are constant on Weyl group orbits. Thus the table proves equality of the full formal characters, and the Weyl complete reducibility theorem givesThe Weyl dimension formula checks the result:Consequently the requested decomposition isIts total dimension is .
Use , the complete theory of algebraically closed fields of characteristic zero. Its quantifier elimination is a standard characterization of this complete theory. Algebraically closed fields of a fixed characteristic are classified up to isomorphism by transcendence degree over their prime field.
For such a field ,when the transcendence degree is infinite, while finite transcendence degree also gives a countable field. This follows by counting rational functions in a transcendence basis and then algebraic elements over that field. Thus every first-order model of cardinality has transcendence degree , and the classification gives a unique such first-order model.
On the other hand and an algebraic closure of are countably infinite first-order models with transcendence degrees zero and one, so are not isomorphic. HenceThe transcendental complete one-type consists of for every nonzero polynomial over . Quantifier elimination makes it complete. It is nonprincipal: any parameter-free one-variable logical formula containing a transcendental element defines a cofinite set, hence contains algebraic elements as well and cannot isolate this partial type. The first-order model omits it, concretely illustrating the omitting types theorem. The existence of infinitely many algebraic complete one-types, together with this nonprincipal complete type, also agrees with the failure of the Ryll-Nardzewski finiteness condition.
An algebraic element is a separable algebraic element over if its minimal polynomial of an algebraic element has distinct roots in a splitting field. A field extension is a separable extension if all its elements are separable algebraic elements.
The formal derivative is additive and satisfies . For monomials, . Distributing over the finitely many coefficients proves the product rule over any field. If in an extension, the rule gives , so , including in characteristic two. If were relatively prime in , the Bézout's identity for polynomials would give , whose evaluation at is impossible. Hence they are not relatively prime.
In characteristic zero, the formal derivative of a positive-degree irreducible polynomial is nonzero and has smaller degree. Thus , since an irreducible polynomial has no proper nonconstant factor. By the previous argument, has no repeated root. Every element of a finite field extension is algebraic, so the extension is a separable extension.
For , let . The characteristic- identity gives , so is already a splitting field. It is a proper extension by the allowed no-root fact. More precisely, the minimal polynomial of an algebraic element divides and, over , equals for some . If , its next-to-leading coefficient is , forcing because in , a contradiction. Hence its minimal polynomial of an algebraic element is , with its one root repeated times. The extension is therefore inseparable, of degree .
By contrast, every finite field extension is a separable extension. If , then . Lagrange's theorem in its nonzero multiplicative group gives for all . Thus every element is a root of , whose formal derivative is ; it has no repeated roots. Every minimal polynomial of an algebraic element divides this separable polynomial, proving the assertion.
Put . Then , so is a root ofThis polynomial satisfies Eisenstein's criterion at : every nonleading coefficient is divisible by , while the constant coefficient is not divisible by . ThereforeNow suppose , taking without loss of generality. Let . Since and ,Consequently all four distinct roots lie in this field. This gives a cyclic quartic field from a nested quadratic radical. It is a splitting field in characteristic zero, hence a normal extension and a Galois extension.
There is a Galois automorphism sending to : a root image defines an embedding, and normality makes it an automorphism of the splitting field. It sends to , soThus is a four-cycle. The Galois group has order four and contains an element of order four, givingFor the requested lower degrees, gives and degree two; gives and degree one. Both pairs use positive integers.
Perfect Lie algebra Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-11-05
A Lie algebra is perfect when . Every semisimple Lie algebra over a field of characteristic zero is perfect.
Perfectness is a property of a Lie algebra, defined by equality with its commutator algebra; semisimplicity is a sufficient condition in characteristic zero.
Pfaffian Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-11-05
Over a field of characteristic zero, for an antisymmetric matrix, the Pfaffian is . Equivalently, it is the coefficient of the top exterior power of the associated alternating form, with the usual factorial normalization. Its square is the determinant. In size four it is , so its vanishing characterizes the simple nonzero bivectors of the Klein quadric.
Polarization spanning of symmetric tensors Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
Over a field of characteristic zero, degree- symmetric tensors are spanned by pure powers . Inclusion-exclusion expands into the sum of all permutation orderings of . Every surviving term uses each of the labels once. This converts an invariant-tensor spanning problem into pure tensor powers.
P-recursive sequence Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-11-05
A P-recursive sequence satisfies a linear recurrence with polynomial coefficients:where the are polynomials and not all zero. The recurrence is required for all sufficiently large relevant integers, allowing exceptional initial indices. Constant-coefficient linear recurrences are a special case.
For , the recurrence proves P-recursiveness. By contrast, a simple-looking nonlinear recurrence is not automatically P-recursive. Over a field of characteristic zero, the ordinary generating function of a P-recursive sequence is D-finite, linking discrete recurrences with linear differential equations having polynomial coefficients.
Prime field Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The prime field of a field is its smallest subfield: the arithmetic forced upon us by the identity element . Every subfield must contain , its repeated sums, their additive inverses, and the multiplicative inverses of nonzero results. In characteristic zero these operations produce a copy of the rational numbers . In positive characteristic of a field , they produce a copy of , with addition and multiplication given by modular arithmetic.
For example, inside the field with four elements, repeated addition of gives . Thus its prime field is , and the other two elements cannot be reached by repeatedly adding . This is why a finite field need not consist entirely of ordinary integer residues: a larger finite field extends the arithmetic of its prime field with additional elements.
The positive characteristic of a field must be a prime number. If its least vanishing multiple of were with , then would exhibit zero divisors. The absence of zero divisors rules this out. The prime field supplies the scalars when viewing as a vector space; its basis then explains the possible sizes of a finite field.
Projective dual variety Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-11-05
For an irreducible projective variety over the complex numbers, its projective dual variety is the closure in the Zariski topology of the projective hyperplanes containing the embedded tangent space at some smooth point of . The projective biduality theorem recovers as : the family of tangent projective hyperplanes determines the original projective variety.
For a nondegenerate smooth projective curve with , the incidence pairs with form a projective bundle over with fiber , hence dimension . The general contact locus is a projective subspace of ; since is not a projective line, it is a single point. Thus is an irreducible projective hypersurface, and a general member represents one ordinary tangency. For a smooth plane conic, the tangent-line equation gives another smooth plane conic in the dual projective plane.
The ambient-dimension hypothesis excludes : no projective hyperplane contains its whole tangent space, so its dual is empty. The stated reflexivity and general tangency assertions also use characteristic zero; inseparable behavior in positive characteristic requires additional hypotheses.[ref]
Quadratic branch parity criterion 2026-10-14
In characteristic zero with algebraically closed constants, a local unit has a square root. Thus near a point is equivalent to adjoining the square root of the local parameter to the power . Even order is unramified; odd order gives ramification index two. For a polynomial , its order at infinity is minus its degree, so infinity branches exactly for odd degree.
Raising and lowering on binary homogeneous polynomials Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
Over a field of characteristic zero, on the degree- homogeneous polynomials use . Then and ; both maps are nilpotent of index . Their commutator is diagonal in this basis with distinct eigenvalues . Thus the raising and lowering operators are not diagonalizable for , while their commutator is.