Double dual module 2026-09-28
The double dual module is . The evaluation homomorphism sends to the functional .
No. Take over a field , and inside take
This is a subring containing : its elements have arbitrary constant coefficient in as polynomials in , and every positive-degree coefficient is divisible by ; that condition is preserved by sums and products. The ring is Noetherian. Indeed, a nonzero ideal of has an element of least degree, and division by shows that every element of the ideal is a multiple of . Thus is a principal ideal domain, and its ideals are finitely generated.
In , let . These form an ascending chain. We show that . If it belonged, we could write
Cancel in the integral domain , then apply the evaluation homomorphism . Every becomes a scalar in , so this would give
which is impossible by comparison of degrees. Hence for every , and
This is a constant-plus-ideal non-Noetherian subring construction: the restricted coefficients prevent a finite list of positive powers of from generating all the required powers.
Let
be a primitive polynomial. The Eisenstein criterion states that if a prime number satisfies
then is an irreducible polynomial in , equivalently in by Gauss lemma for polynomials.
To prove it, suppose that with of positive degree. Primitivity and Gauss's lemma let us take such an integral factorisation if a factorisation over exists. Reducing modulo gives
Because does not divide the leading coefficient of , neither factor loses degree on reduction. The polynomial ring is a unique factorization domain, so both reductions are monomials of positive degree. In particular, divides both constant terms and . It follows that divides
a contradiction. This proves the criterion.
For a prime , translate the geometric sum by one:
Its leading coefficient is one, every other coefficient is divisible by , and its constant coefficient is , which is not divisible by . It is therefore Eisenstein at . Translation is an automorphism of , so
This is the geometric-sum irreducibility criterion.
The evaluation homomorphism
has image and contains in its kernel. Since is monic, division by in writes every as with . If , then ; the irreducibility of says that is the minimal polynomial of , so . Thus , and the first isomorphism theorem for rings gives
Now take . Then , and the Eisenstein integers are
Complex conjugation sends to , so the field norm is
Given , choose integers with . For ,
For with , apply this to and put . Then
Hence the norm is a Euclidean function, proving that is a Euclidean domain. This is the Euclidean norm on the Eisenstein integers.
Finally suppose satisfies . Make the free abelian group into a -module by defining
This is well-defined precisely because obeys the same polynomial relation as . The module is finitely generated. It is also torsion-free module: if and , multiplication by the conjugate of gives , and the additive group has no nonzero integer torsion.
A Euclidean domain is a principal ideal domain, and the structure theorem for finitely generated modules over a principal ideal domain says that a finitely generated torsion-free module over one is free. Thus
for some . Since has free module basis over , comparison of abelian ranks gives . There can consequently be no such matrix when is odd.
If , choose a -basis . Then
is a -basis, and . In this basis the matrix of is a direct sum of copies of
Every admissible matrix is therefore conjugate in to . Hence there is exactly one conjugacy class for even , and none for odd . This is the classification of integral matrices satisfying the third cyclotomic polynomial.
Reflexive module Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-09-29