Every ideal class of this real quadratic number field contains an integral ideal of ideal norm at most , by the diamond form of the Minkowski convex body theorem. The only possible norms are one, two and three. The sole prime ideal above two has norm two and is principal, generated by , whose field norm is two. The prime three is inert, since is irreducible modulo three, so there is no ideal of norm three. Every class therefore has a principal small representative, and the ideal class group is trivial.
This illustrates why the small-ideal bound can prove a class number without listing arbitrary ideals: only prime ideals of a few possible norms need to be tested. Real quadratic fields require the absolute field norm; the generator here happens to have positive norm.
The ring of integers is and the field discriminant is . The Minkowski bound for ideal classes is . At three the defining polynomial is irreducible, so the only prime ideals needed to generate the ideal class group are and , of ideal norms two and five. They satisfy , and , so one class of order of a group element at most two generates. The field norm equation is impossible modulo five, proving is not a principal ideal. Hence the ideal class group has exactly two elements.
The product formula uses finite-place factors given by ideal norms, the ordinary modulus at real embeddings, and the modulus squared at complex places. The complex square accounts for the pair of conjugate embeddings. Equivalently ordinary complex modulus can be used with weight two in the product. These normalizations cancel the absolute global field norm.
Past exam of the algebraic number theory course of the University of Oxford 2023 3 b Solution 2026-10-25
To compute the Ideal class group of Q of square root thirty-five, put . The ring of integers of a quadratic field formula gives , and the field discriminant is . Both field embeddings are real, so the Minkowski bound for ideal classes isEvery ideal class therefore has an integral ideal representative of ideal norm at most five. By prime ideal factorization and multiplicativity of the ideal norm, the ideal class group is generated by prime ideals of ideal norm at most five.
Apply the Dedekind factorization theorem to . At two and five it has a repeated linear factor, givingAt three, has no root, so itself is a prime ideal of ideal norm nine, outside the bound. These are all the relevant prime ideals: a prime ideal of ideal norm four would have to lie above two with residue degree two, but the factorization above two has only the single factor of degree one. Consequently and generate, and each has order of a group element dividing two.
The algebraic integer has field norm . It belongs to both and . Hence its principal ideal is contained in . Both have ideal norm ten, soIt follows that , and the ideal class group is generated by one element of order of a group element at most two.
Finally, is not a principal ideal. If with , the equality of ideal norm and absolute field norm would implyModulo five this requires or , whereas squares modulo five are . Thus , provingThis computes the ordinary ideal class group, with no positivity restriction on generators.
Past exam of the algebraic number theory course of the University of Oxford 2023 3 c Solution 2026-10-25
Let . The polynomial is Eisenstein at three, so the number field has degree of a field extension three. Use the permitted ring of integers , whose integral basis is . The field traces , , , and giveThere is one real field embedding and one conjugate pair of nonreal field embeddings. The Minkowski bound for ideal classes is thereforeEvery ideal class has an integral ideal representative of ideal norm at most four, so it is enough to show that every prime ideal of ideal norm at most four is a principal ideal.
Modulo two,where the quadratic factor is an irreducible polynomial over the finite field . The Dedekind factorization theorem givesNowThus , by containment and equality of ideal norms, and cancellation in the second identity gives . This explicitly handles the prime ideal of ideal norm four, as well as the one of ideal norm two.
Modulo three the polynomial is , soThese exhaust the prime ideals of ideal norm at most four. Every bounded representative factors into the listed principal ideals, and hence is a principal ideal. Therefore the Class group of Q of cube root of three is
Past exam of the algebraic number theory course of the University of Oxford 2023 3 d Solution 2026-10-25
For , put . Since , the ring of integers of a quadratic field formula gives . Modulo five,The two roots are distinct, so the Dedekind factorization theorem givesIn particular .
We prove that has order of a group element greater than . Suppose instead that is a principal ideal for some . Since , its generator is in : write with . Taking ideal norms gives the positive field normBut , so . Thus , forcing to be even and . This would givecontrary to unique factorization of ideals in a number field and . Consequently no such exists. The finiteness of the ideal class group ensures that has finite order of a group element, soFor every positive integer , the allowed infinitude of prime numbers in the progression supplies one larger than . Applying the construction proves unbounded element orders in imaginary quadratic ideal class groups. In particular, this establishes elements of arbitrarily large order of a group element, rather than merely unbounded class numbers.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 74 5 Solution 2026-10-14
For and , define the inverse different, or codifferent, by the trace-dual latticeThe trace pairing is nondegenerate in this separable field extension, so this is a full fractional ideal of . The relative different ideal is its inverse:Every integral has integral traces against , so and .
For , take an integral basis and its trace pairing matrix . In these coordinates the codifferent is , andThe ideal norm of equals this index, by inversion of fractional ideal norms. Therefore the norm of the different ideal relation isHere is the number of conjugate pairs of complex embeddings. The different is an ideal of the upper field, whereas the relative discriminant ideal is its ideal norm in the base field; over the ordinary signed field discriminant also records the signature.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 31 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use arithmetic Frobenius automorphisms: residues are raised to the size of the base residue field. Let contain the finite primes ramified in the finite abelian extension . The Artin map is the group homomorphismwhere is the group of fractional ideals supported outside . The Artin symbol is independent of the prime above , since the extension is abelian. Commutativity makes the displayed extension from prime ideals well defined. Defining this map does not yet assert the Artin reciprocity law, which describes its congruence group kernel.
For an intermediate field , restriction givesTo prove it, start with an unramified prime and a prime of above it. Its Frobenius automorphism acts on the residue of every integral element of by raising it to . Its restriction is therefore the Frobenius automorphism for at the restricted prime. The identity for all allowed fractional ideals follows by the group homomorphism property. On Galois groups, restriction is the quotient by , so passing to a subextension quotients the Artin map accordingly.
Now let be any finite extension and put . This is the translated extension: is abelian, and restriction identifies with . A prime of above a prime is unramified in , because forming a compositum with preserves an unramified extension. Put . The residue-field sizes satisfy . Consequently the restriction to of Frobenius at acts on its integral residues by raising them to , givingBut the ideal norm is . Multiplying this prime-by-prime identity provesThis is restriction and norm compatibility of the Artin map. The fractional ideal must be supported over primes unramified in . No assumption that itself is unramified or Galois is needed. With geometric rather than arithmetic Frobenius, both maps are inverted and the compatibility identities remain unchanged.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 ii Paper 2 20G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The ring of integers is , since , and its discriminant is . Rationalizing givesBoth are algebraic integers, so is a unit. Set . Since ,Also . It is the unique ideal of ideal norm two: any quotient of size two is , and the image of must satisfy , hence be one. The kernel of a ring homomorphism onto is uniquely , which is .
The given Minkowski constant means every ideal class has an integral representative of ideal norm at most . Such a ideal norm is one or two. The norm-one ideal is the whole ring, and the sole norm-two ideal is principal. Thus the class number is one.
If , the principal ideal has ideal norm two and hence equals . Its generator differs from by a unit. Conversely multiplication by a norm-one unit preserves the field norm two. With the assumed fundamental unit, all units are ; in fact a norm-minus-one unit is impossible since has no solution. Therefore the complete answer isFor and the positive sign, the product is , giving ; checks the result.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ii Paper 2 20G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Since , the ring of integers is with discriminant . Write and . Reduction of modulo two gives a double root, and modulo five gives the roots . Thus , , and . Directly , since . The element belongs to and and has field norm ten, so equality of ideal norms givesThe Minkowski bound is , so every ideal class contains an integral ideal of ideal norm at most five. Three is inert and gives no prime ideal of ideal norm three; ideals of ideal norm four are , principal. Thus the class group is generated by , and the displayed relations make every class either trivial or . The class is nontrivial: a generator would have field norm , but would give or , neither a quadratic residue. Hence the class number is two.
The unit has field norm . To show it is fundamental, suppose is a positive real embedding of a unit . Its conjugate is , so is a positive integer less than two. Thus , and forces . Only is greater than one, contrary to the strict inequality. Therefore no smaller unit exceeds one. Multiplying any positive unit by a suitable power of puts it in , proving that all units are .
An element of field norm has principal ideal or by prime ideal factorization. The first is generated by ; the second by , of field norm . Two generators of the same principal ideal differ by a unit. Therefore all, and only, the integer solutions areThe two displayed signs are independent; multiplication by a norm-minus-one unit exchanges the two field norm signs.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 1 20H b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The ideal has ideal norm two. Its square is contained in and has norm four, so . A generator would have field norm , impossible for integers . Thus its ideal class has order two.
Modulo three, , giving with . A generator of would have norm three, again impossible. If were principal, its generator would have norm nine. The only possibilities are , whose ideal is , not .
Finally . This element lies in but not , because in the latter quotient. Unique unique factorization of ideals in a number field and norms therefore give
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 4 20H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Since , reduction gives . The maximal ideals of this quotient are precisely those generated by the distinct irreducible factors . Their inverse images are thereforethe distinct prime ideals above . In fact is a field of size . Every prime containing arises this way; independence of the choice of lift follows because another lift differs by a multiple of .
To prove the ideal factorization, set . A generator of the product either contains a factor , and hence lies in , or is the product . The latter also lies in , since its polynomial reduces to and . Thus . The ideal norm is multiplicative for nonzero ideals in the ring of integers; henceEqual finite indices together with the containment imply equality. ThereforeThis proves the Dedekind factorization theorem in the stated monogenic case by containment and norms, rather than assuming the desired factorization.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ii Paper 1 20G a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The ideal class group of a number field is the group of nonzero fractional ideals of its ring of integers under multiplication, modulo the subgroup of principal fractional ideals. For degree and pairs of complex embeddings, the Minkowski bound for ideal classes states that each class contains an integral ideal withThere are only finitely many integral ideals of bounded ideal norm: as sublattices of the free abelian group of integers, they have bounded index, and finitely many subgroups have any fixed index. Thus the ideal class group is finite.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ii Paper 1 20G b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The element satisfies , so is an algebraic integer. Conversely, write an algebraic integer as with rational. Its trace gives , and its field norm implies . If in lowest terms, divides 23, forcing . The integral field norm condition modulo four then makes have the same parity. Therefore it equals , provingBoth reductions of modulo two and three split into the distinct roots zero and one. The index is one, so ideal factorization givesTheir norms are two and three respectively. The product is generated by . All are multiples of , using ; and belongs to the product. HenceThe Minkowski bound is , in fact about . Every class therefore has a representative of ideal norm one, two or three. The displayed primes and their conjugates exhaust those possibilities. Their classes are all , with , because and conjugation inverts a quadratic ideal class. There are at most three classes.
There is no element of field norm two: , which exceeds two for and is a square for . Thus is not principal. Moreover , and belongs to but not its conjugate, so . Consequently has order three, and
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 26 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put and . The polynomial is irreducible over by the Eisenstein criterion at , so . This field is real and cannot contain the nonreal . Adjoining gives a quadratic extension and hence . Since is the splitting field of , its Galois group acts faithfully on and has order six. Consequently
For a prime over a rational prime , its absolute residue degree is the order of the cyclic quotient group from part (i). If that degree were six, then , a subgroup of , would have order at least six, so and . This would make cyclic, a contradiction. The argument applies also at ramified primes. Thus
For the second request printed with the same subpart label, work over . The Galois group of is cyclic of order three, with generator and . The ideal norm of is seven, sinceIn its residue field we have . The polynomial has no root in , because its cube residues are . It is therefore irreducible there. Its discriminant is a unit at . To check the local index condition, the trace pairing matrix of has this unit determinant. For any integral element of , its traces against these three basis elements are integral; solving with this invertible matrix shows that its basis coefficients are integral locally. Thus the relative ring of integers equals at . The relative Kummer-Dedekind theorem gives one unramified prime above , of residue degree three.
Use arithmetic Frobenius, characterized by on this residue field. As ,The three possible images remain distinct modulo , since is nonzero and are distinct modulo seven. This congruence therefore identifies the actual automorphism uniquely:The geometric Frobenius convention would give its inverse. Since is abelian, the arithmetic element is independent of the choice of prime above .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 81 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be an extension of number fields, let be a primitive element of a field extension, and let be its monic minimal polynomial of an algebraic element. Put and . The Kummer-Dedekind theorem applies at a nonzero prime ideal of when : equivalently, is outside the support of the finite-index quotient . Write the factorization over the residue field aswith distinct monic irreducible polynomials , and choose monic lifts . ThenHere denotes the residue-field degree, and the ramification index of a prime ideal is .
To prove this, the local index condition givesThe final isomorphism is the Chinese remainder theorem. Each factor is a local ring with unique maximal ideal generated by , so its inverse image in is exactly , and its residue field is . This proves the list of primes and the residue-field degrees. For the exponents, localize at . The ring of integers of a number field is a Dedekind domain, so is a discrete valuation ring. If , the quotient has successive layers isomorphic to , and hence -dimension . The corresponding polynomial factor has -dimension . Thus , completing the proof rather than merely identifying the radicals.
For the calculation, set and . The ring of integers of a quadratic field gives , with . The algebraic norm of is , so its principal ideal has ideal norm . Its quotient ring has prime order and is therefore the finite field ; consequently is a prime ideal. In that residue field, and .
Let . Since lies in , the permitted identity gives . Thus the local index condition holds at every prime. The relative minimal polynomial of an algebraic element is , whose reduction isThe roots are distinct. Applying the Kummer-Dedekind theorem givesFor the last equality, evaluation at or in gives and therefore . Both descriptions are the same kernels of these evaluation maps. Each prime has ideal norm , residue-field degree one and ramification index of a prime ideal one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 81 3 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Set and . The distinct primes give independent square classes, so and . In particular : these are the same quadratic extension of . We prove it is unramified by an explicit field discriminant calculation.
Since , put , . Both are algebraic integers. The ring has basis . Up to the ordering of the basis, its trace pairing matrix is the tensor product of the quadratic trace matrices, because the four embeddings of choose the two radical signs independently. The two quadratic matrices areThusOn the other hand, is squarefree and congruent to one modulo four, so . Let . The discriminant-index formula for an integral lattice and the relative discriminant tower formula giveThe ideal norm on the right is a positive integer, while is a positive integer. Hence forces and . Its prime divisors are exactly the ramified finite primes, so is unramified at every finite prime, including primes above . This also proves , agreeing with the discriminant of a biquadratic field formula.
Every embedding of is real, so the real places of split as well. The extension is quadratic, hence abelian. The ordinary Hilbert class field characterization therefore impliesFinally, the Artin reciprocity map identifies with . Restriction onto is surjective, so the ideal class group has a quotient of order two. Therefore .
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 2013 iii Paper 21 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The idele group is the multiplicative restricted productIts restricted product topology has basic open sets , where is finite and contains every infinite place, and is open in . In particular, the restriction to almost all local unit groups is part of the topology, not merely the unrestricted product topology.
The diagonal map is injective and well-defined by finite support of the principal ideal's valuations; its image consists of principal ideles. To prove discreteness of principal ideles, take the neighbourhood of which requires at every finite place and in the ordinary real or complex modulus at every infinite place. A diagonal element in it is a global unit, so . If , the nonzero integer has absolute value at least one, but the archimedean bounds make its absolute value less than . This contradiction proves is a discrete subgroup of .
For a modulus of a number field, write for its finite ideal part together with any selected real places. Let be the group of fractional ideals coprime to the finite part. Let consist of principal ideals with locally at each finite place in the modulus, and at each selected real place. The ray class group isEquivalently it is the quotient , with the corresponding principal-unit factors at finite places and positive multiplicative factors at selected real places. The question now assumes that no infinite places occur.
Put . Global units map to by reduction. To map to the ray class group, choose, by the Chinese remainder theorem, an integral having the prescribed unit residues at all , and send the tuple to the ray class of . A different choice changes the ratio by an element congruent to one at every such place, so the map is well-defined and multiplicative.
The forgetful map to the ordinary ideal class group is surjective: weak approximation for number fields multiplies an ideal by a principal ideal so that all its valuations in vanish. Its kernel consists exactly of classes represented by principal ideals coprime to , and their generators supply the local unit residues. Finally, a residue tuple maps to the identity ray class precisely when its chosen differs from a congruence-one generator by a global unit. Thus the ray class exact sequence isThe leftmost arrow need not be injective, explaining the absence of an initial zero.
For , the ring of integers of Q of square root two is . Its absolute field norm is a Euclidean function. Indeed, for , choose nearest integers ; writing , , both bounded by , gives . Applying this to a quotient proves Euclidean division, hence the ring is a principal ideal domain and . This is norm-Euclideanity of the integers adjoined square root two.
Write and . Their ideal norms are and , respectively; and the residue field at is , with because . The finite local quotient product for the requested modulus isThe first factor consists of and .
The given fundamental unit and generate the global units. Their images areThe first image has order six; its cube is and its square is , generating the first factor and the order-three subgroup of the second. The second image supplies the missing order-two element of . Thus the global unit map is surjective onto all local unit residues. By the exact sequence, or the unit-surjectivity criterion for a trivial finite ray class group,There is no positivity condition here: the modulus has no infinite part, so using the unit is legitimate and essential in the surjectivity calculation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 16H ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Put . Then and the field discriminant is . Reduction of modulo and givesTheir ideal norms are , respectively. The Minkowski bound for ideal classes is , so every ideal class has an integral representative of norm at most . The only possible representatives are the unit ideal, , , , and the norm- ideal . Thus there are at most four classes.