Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 101 3 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
The Going-down theorem states: let be an integral extension of integral domains, with integrally closed in its fraction field. If are prime ideals of and is a prime ideal of lying over , then there is a prime ideal lying over .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 101 3 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Put , letbe the minimal polynomial of an algebraic element over , and let be the integral closure of in a finite normal extension containing all roots of . Since is integral over and is integrally closed domain, every belongs to .
Write with and . Every -embedding into the normal extension fixes the and sends each to an element integral over . Thus every conjugate of lies in the extended ideal . Each nonleading coefficient of is, up to sign, an elementary symmetric polynomial in those conjugates, so it lies in .
For an integral extension, extension followed by contraction preserves a prime ideal:Indeed, the determinant trick gives for , and primality then gives . Hence for every .