Cyclotomic local different exponent 2026-10-06
For , the uniformizer has different exponent . Differentiate the cyclotomic polynomial at : the numerator contributes to the valuation, while the denominator contributes .
Irreducibility of cyclotomic polynomials 2026-10-03
Every cyclotomic polynomial is an irreducible polynomial over . If a monic irreducible factor contains a primitive root , then it also contains for every prime number : otherwise, writing , reduction modulo and the Frobenius endomorphism give . Some irreducible factor would then divide both and , giving a repeated factor of , contrary to separability of roots of unity. Iterating over the prime factors of every integer coprime to shows that contains all primitive th roots, so .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 ib Paper 4 2F iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 1 18H iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 4 1G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 21 3 ii a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Put , with . The shifted cyclotomic polynomial is Eisenstein at : its constant term is , and modulo it is . Therefore is totally ramified of degree and is a uniformiser.
The Galois group is , with . For , let , . Then is a primitive th root. Its difference from one is a uniformiser in the corresponding smaller cyclotomic field, and the relative ramification index is . HenceThe uniformizer criterion for lower ramification groups now determines every group. Write , with . Then the lower ramification filtration of a prime-power cyclotomic extension isFor the middle range is empty and the extension is tame. The formula also includes ; then is already the whole group, so the first possible drop is later than in the odd-prime case. For , the entire extension is trivial.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 24 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The inverse different is the trace-dual latticeThe integral closure is finite free over the complete discrete valuation ring . Choose an integral basis and use the nondegenerate trace pairing to form its dual basis over . This exhibits as a full, finite -lattice. It is stable under multiplication by , because for , and bounded denominators make it a fractional ideal of . Integral elements have integral field traces, so . A nonzero fractional ideal of a discrete valuation ring is invertible; its inverse is consequently an integral ideal, the different ideal .
Assume now , with monic separable minimal polynomial of degree . Lagrange interpolation at its distinct roots givesIndeed, these are the leading coefficients in the interpolation formula for . For any element of , this trace is the coefficient of in its degree-less-than- representative modulo . The resulting pairing on the basis is integral and unimodular: reversing the order of one basis makes its matrix triangular with diagonal ones, since entries vanish when the exponent sum is less than . Thus it identifies with its full -dual. Translating back to the trace pairing proves
For a totally ramified extension of degree , any uniformizer is an Eisenstein generator of a totally ramified extension, and . To see the latter equality, use the common residue field to expand an integral element in powers of with digits from ; reduce powers using its Eisenstein polynomial and take limits in the finite complete -module generated by . Write that polynomial as , with for . When , the derivative's leading term has valuation , while every other nonzero derivative term has valuation at least . There can be no cancellation of the unique smallest term. Therefore
For the prime-power p-adic cyclotomic extension, put and . Modulo , the shifted cyclotomic polynomial is , while its constant term is , not a multiple of . It is therefore Eisenstein, so is a uniformizer and . Fromwe obtain, by differentiating the numerator at ,The denominator is a primitive- root of unity minus one and has -valuation . The different exponent is consequently , givingThis includes : the extension is trivial and its different exponent is zero.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 17F ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The cyclotomic polynomial is . Over ,since the middle coefficient in the product is . Both factors have positive degree, proving reducibility. In fact their discriminant is not a square modulo , so these are the two irreducible quadratic factors.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 4 2E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Eisenstein's criterion. Let be a nonconstant primitive polynomial. If a prime number satisfies , for , and , then is an irreducible polynomial over .
To prove the Eisenstein criterion, suppose a nontrivial factorization exists over . Gauss lemma for polynomials gives with of positive degree. Their leading coefficients are not divisible by , because their product is . Reduction modulo therefore preserves both degrees, andSince the only irreducible factor of the right side is , both reduced factors are nonzero monomials of positive degree. Their constant coefficients are consequently divisible by . This would make , a contradiction.
For the requested polynomial, shift the variable by one. The binomial theorem givesIt is monic, all coefficients below the leading one are divisible by , and the constant coefficient is , not divisible by . The Eisenstein criterion proves irreducibility of this shifted polynomial. The substitution is an automorphism of , with inverse , so it preserves nontrivial factorizations. HenceThis is the cyclotomic polynomial for a prime index.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 17I b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
A cyclotomic field over is a field generated by an th root of unity of exact order . It contains all roots of , and is its splitting field. In characteristic zero this polynomial is separable, so the extension is Galois.
Every automorphism sends to with , and is determined by that image. Composition multiplies the exponents modulo , yielding an injective homomorphism into an abelian group. Thus the Galois group is abelian. Using irreducibility of the cyclotomic polynomial, every unit exponent occurs andIf “cyclotomic” is used more broadly for a subfield of such a field, it is still Galois and abelian, because every subgroup of an abelian Galois group is normal.