Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 74 4 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use , the valuation ring of the completion of a number field at a prime ideal, with uniformizer and residue field . This completeness is essential for coprime-factor Hensel lifting. Normalize the two residue factors to be monic first; if the original factors have reciprocal leading units, undo the normalization by multiplying the eventual factors by reciprocal lifts of those units.
Let the two monic residue degrees be . Start with monic lifts satisfying . Suppose monic lifts of these degrees satisfy . Put , of degree less than . Over , the linear mapis injective: a zero image makes divide , by coprimality, forcing by its degree bound, and then . The dimensions agree, so this map is a bijection. Choose lifts whose image is , and setTheir product agrees with modulo ; the new cross term has factor and . The degree bounds preserve monicity. Each coefficient is a Cauchy sequence in the complete discrete valuation ring , so the limits satisfyIf were interpreted only as an ordinary localization rather than the completed valuation ring, the assertion would be false. For example splits modulo seven but is irreducible over . The completion notation in the next part provides the intended local-field interpretation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 21 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
A place of a number field is an equivalence class of nontrivial absolute values on a field. Its finite places correspond to nonzero prime ideals of the ring of integers of a number field; its infinite places come from real embeddings and conjugate pairs of complex embeddings.
For a embedding of a number field into a p-adic algebraic closure , pull back the p-adic absolute value. This gives a place above . Every element of preserves that absolute value, by uniqueness of its extension to each finite local extension, so equivalent embeddings give the same place.
Conversely, a place above gives a completion of a number field at a prime ideal , a finite extension of . Embed it into and restrict to . If two embeddings give the same place, they extend to two -embeddings of this same completion. They are conjugate under the absolute Galois group: their finite separable images lie in a finite normal closure, and an isomorphism of such images extends to an automorphism of the algebraic closure. The completion really is the closure of the embedded , since rational coefficients are dense in the -span of a primitive element. Thus we obtain the embedding orbit description of finite places:
For the product formula, use normalized local factorsThe squared modulus at a complex place counts its two embeddings. Equivalently one can use ordinary complex modulus and put exponent two in the product. These normalized local factors for the product formula must be specified; arbitrary representatives of place classes would not satisfy the unweighted printed formula.
The fractional principal ideal has only finitely many nonzero prime exponents. Its ideal norm is : for integral , multiplication by on an integral basis has this determinant in absolute value, equal to the index of in ; a quotient gives the fractional case. Hence the finite-place product is . The infinite-place product is , by the embedding expression for the field norm. Therefore all but finitely many local factors are one, and
Finally, let be the integer field discriminant, defined by the determinant of the trace pairing on an integral basis. If a rational prime ramifies, the algebra has a nonzero nilpotent element: use prime ideal factorization and the Chinese remainder theorem to see a nonzero nilpotent in a factor with . If is nilpotent, multiplication by is nilpotent for every in this commutative algebra, and therefore has trace zero. Thus is in the radical of its trace pairing, making the reduced discriminant zero. We have proved the discriminant obstruction to ramification:Only finitely many rational primes divide this nonzero integer, so only finitely many primes ramify.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 123 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Give the unique extension of the absolute value of . We use two standard facts: a complete non-Archimedean absolute value extends uniquely to every finite algebraic extension, and any two embeddings of a finite separable extension into an algebraic closure are conjugate by an automorphism of that algebraic closure.
A -embedding pulls back this absolute value to a finite place of a number field on extending the given place of . By the permitted equivalence of places and primes, it determines a prime ideal above . Every element of preserves the absolute value by uniqueness, so is constant on each orbit.
Every prime above occurs: its completion of a number field at a prime ideal is a finite extension of and admits a -embedding into . Composing with gives an embedding inducing .
Conversely, suppose two embeddings induce the same prime. Their pulled-back absolute values have the same normalization on , so they extend continuously to embeddings of the same field . To see that their images are still inside the algebraic closure rather than only its completion, the closure of is exactly the finite complete field . The two resulting embeddings of are conjugate by the stated separable-extension fact. Restricting the conjugacy to proves that the original embeddings are in the same orbit. Thus the prime ideals and local embedding orbits are naturally identified:
If , an embedding is determined by the image of , which may be any root of its minimal polynomial . The orbits on these roots are exactly the root sets of the monic irreducible factors of over . HenceIf corresponds to , then and . This is the local factorization and extended absolute values correspondence and does not require an integral power basis.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 123 1 ii Solution 2026-10-03
The completion of a number field at a prime ideal does not change either invariant. More precisely, is the valuation ring of , its maximal ideal is , andThus the completed extension has the same ramification index and the same residue-field extension, hence the same residue-field degree . This is completion preserves ramification and residue data.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 136 4 a Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
To prove it, let be an automorphism of fixing . The absolute value has a unique extension to every finite extension of the complete field , so it is invariant under . If , the ultrametric inequality and the displayed strict inequality giveBut and invariance gives , a contradiction. Every automorphism fixing therefore fixes , which proves the field inclusion by Galois correspondence.
Now let be finite. By the primitive element theorem, write with separable minimal polynomial . Approximate the coefficients of closely by those of a polynomial of the same degree. Continuity of roots over a non-Archimedean field gives a root of arbitrarily close to . Choose it close enough for Krasner's lemma; thenThe degree bound from forces equality. If and is the prime selected by the embedding , its completion isThus every finite extension of is the completion of a number field at a prime ideal.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 136 5 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The Ostrowski theorem says that every nontrivial absolute value on a field defined on is equivalent either to the usual absolute value or to for a unique prime .
Let an absolute value on the number field extend . Its valuation ring determinesa prime ideal satisfying . Conversely, each prime above defines the normalized absolute valuewhere . It restricts to . The correspondence between extensions and primes follows either from the valuation ring or from local factorization and extended absolute values; distinct primes give inequivalent valuations. Thus these are exactly the extensions, up to equivalence.
For the tensor-product assertion, choose a primitive element of a field extension for , with minimal polynomial . Because number fields are separable, over it factors into distinct irreduciblesindexed by the primes . The Chinese remainder theorem givesThe th factor is the completion of a number field at a prime ideal . Under these identifications the isomorphism is the natural diagonal map , proving the p-adic tensor decomposition of a number field
For non-Archimedean local fields, let be an unramified extension of degree , and let be finite. The degree- unramified extension of has a residue field containing the degree- residue extension of . Lift an integral residue generator of into that field by Hensel lemma. This embeds into an unramified extension of , so is an unramified subextension. Applying this argument to each completion of a number field at a prime ideal proves the finite-prime assertion for number fields, even when is ramified.