Fiber primes of an integral extension Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
For an integral extension and , localization gives a bijectionIt combines the prime ideal correspondence for localization with the contraction of a maximal ideal under an integral extension.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 148 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An element is an integral element over when it satisfies a monic equationThe extension is an integral extension when every is integral over .
Let and localize both rings at . The extension remains integral. Choose a maximal ideal of . The contraction of a maximal ideal under an integral extension is maximal, and the local ring has unique maximal ideal , so . Contracting back to produces with . This proves the Lying-over theorem and hence the surjectivity of
Suppose and both contract to . Quotient by and localize the resulting integral domain at the nonzero elements of . The localized ring is an integral domain integral over the field , and is therefore itself a field. The localization of must consequently be zero; since the localized ring is a domain, . Thus the incomparability theorem for integral extensions gives
The Krull dimension of a ring is the supremum of the lengths of its strict chains of prime ideals. Incomparability makes the contraction of every strict prime chain in strict, so . Conversely, start over the bottom prime of any chain in using lying over and lift each subsequent inclusion using the going-up theorem. Hence
For the concrete surface, write for the residue classes of and putThenand characteristic zero allows division by three. ThereforeDivision by the monic quadratic shows that is free over with basis . In particular, are algebraically independent and the requested Noether normalization of the quadratic surface xy plus yz plus zx is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 101 2 iii a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Put and definewhere acts on through the given inclusion. By the prime ideal correspondence for localization, primes of correspond to primes of satisfying , equivalently .
The localized extension remains integral. If , thenis an integral domain integral over the field . An integral domain integral over a field is a field, so is maximal.
Conversely, if is maximal in , the contraction of a maximal ideal under an integral extension is maximal in the local ring , hence equals . Contracting once more to gives . Extension and contraction are inverse under localization, proving the required fiber primes of an integral extension bijection.