An integral domain is an integrally closed domain if every element of its fraction field which is an integral element over belongs to . Explicitly, if satisfies
then . Thus .
Suppose is a unique factorization domain and is integral, with , , and with no common irreducible element as a factor. Multiplying its monic equation by gives
Hence divides . Every irreducible element dividing is a prime element, so it would divide , contrary to the choice of the fraction. Therefore is a unit, and . We have proved
The going-down theorem is the following. Let be an integral extension of integral domains with an integrally closed domain. If
then
We first prove this for a module-finite ring extension and then remove that extra hypothesis. We use the Lying-over theorem, the going-up theorem, and the incomparability theorem for integral extensions: primes exist over every base prime, prime chains can be extended upwards, and distinct primes over the same base prime cannot contain one another. The going-up theorem follows by applying the Lying-over theorem to the quotient by the lower prime. These results concern arbitrary integral extensions; none assumes the going-down theorem.
For the finite case, let and . Since is module-finite, is a finite field extension. Take a finite normal field extension containing , obtained as a splitting field of the minimal polynomials of finitely many field generators. The extension need not be a separable field extension. Let be the integral closure of in . Then , and is integral over both and .
We need one auxiliary fact: the finite group acts transitively on the prime ideals of over any fixed prime ideal of . First observe that an element fixed by all of is a purely inseparable algebraic element over . Indeed, all -embeddings of into an algebraic closure extend to -automorphisms of the normal field extension . Hence the minimal polynomial of an algebraic element has only one distinct root. In characteristic zero this says ; in characteristic it says for some .
Now let be primes of over , and suppose is different from every , . By the incomparability theorem for integral extensions, is contained in none of these conjugate primes. The prime avoidance lemma supplies
The product
is fixed by , is integral over , and lies in because one factor is . Choose an exponent equal to in characteristic zero, or a power of in characteristic , such that . Since is an integrally closed domain, . It also lies in , hence in . Because is a prime ideal, some factor lies in . This means , contradicting our choice. Thus for some , proving transitivity. The power accounts for the possible purely inseparable field extension and makes the argument valid in every characteristic.
Lift the prescribed to a prime of by the Lying-over theorem for . Separately, choose a prime over and use the going-up theorem to find over . Transitivity gives with . Then
Contracting to gives with the required contraction. This proves the going-down theorem for the module-finite case.
For a general integral extension , consider and the ideal
We claim that is disjoint from . Otherwise, clearing the finitely many denominators in an expression for an element gives
The subalgebra is a module-finite ring extension of , since all its generators are integral elements. Apply the finite case to : there is a prime contracting to . The displayed identity puts in , but . Thus , a contradiction.
Localize further at the multiplicative subset . The extension of is a proper ideal, by the disjointness just proved. Choose a maximal ideal containing it and contract back to a prime ideal of . This prime contains and avoids . Its contraction to lies inside by the prime ideal correspondence for localization, and its contraction to is exactly . This completes the proof of the going-down theorem without any finite generation assumption on .
The semicubical parabola has coordinate ring
under , . The isomorphism is valid in every characteristic: after division by the monic polynomial in , a remainder maps to a sum of distinct even powers and odd powers at least three, and can vanish only when both polynomials are zero.
Its fraction field contains , which is an integral element over because it satisfies . However , since a polynomial in has no term of degree one. Thus is not an integrally closed domain. The ring of the affine line is a principal ideal domain and therefore an integrally closed domain. This property is preserved by ring isomorphism. By coordinate-ring functoriality,
The parametrization is a bijection on points over an algebraically closed field, but that does not make its inverse a morphism at the cusp.
A Dedekind domain is a Noetherian ring which is an integral domain, is an integrally closed domain, and has Krull dimension one. Explicitly, every ideal is finitely generated; every element of the fraction field that is an integral element over already belongs to ; and every nonzero prime ideal is a maximal ideal, with itself not a field.
With this convention, an equivalent local characterization is that is a Noetherian integral domain that is not a field and whose localization at a prime ideal is a discrete valuation ring for every nonzero prime ideal . The integrally closed domain condition rules out singularities such as those represented by the subring , where is integral but missing.
Some conventions also include fields by allowing Krull dimension at most one; the conclusions about ideals below remain valid under that convention.
Take
We justify that this is a Dedekind domain. It is an integral domain inside the number field . As an additive group it is free of rank two over . The subgroup theorem for finitely generated abelian groups says that every subgroup of such a group is finitely generated. Thus every ideal has finitely many additive generators, and those same elements generate it as a -ideal. This proves that is Noetherian.
We use the standard formula for the ring of integers of a quadratic field: for squarefree , it is if , and otherwise. Since , is the ring of integers of a number field , meaning all elements of integral over . We also use transitivity of integral extensions. If an element of is integral over , it is integral over because is integral over , and therefore belongs to . Thus is an integrally closed domain.
Every nonzero prime ideal is maximal. Indeed, choose . Multiplying by its algebraic conjugate puts the nonzero integer in . Hence the integral domain is a quotient of the finite ring , and is finite. Every finite integral domain is a field, since multiplication by a nonzero element is injective and therefore surjective. The element has no inverse in , since , so is not a field. Consequently is not maximal, and a maximal ideal above it is nonzero. Together with the preceding result, this gives Krull dimension exactly one.
Finally, consider the ideal
Reduction modulo with identifies with , so the additive index is . If were the principal ideal , multiplication by its nonzero generator would have integer matrix
in the basis . The index of its image is the absolute determinant, so
There are no integer solutions: makes the right side at least , while would require . Thus is a nonprincipal ideal in the integers adjoined a square root of minus five, and is a Dedekind domain that is not a principal ideal domain.
First prove that is an integrally closed domain. If is integral over , then it is integral over . Since the unique factorization domain is integrally closed, write with and minimal. If , an integral equation for gives, after multiplication by a suitable power of ,
Hence . The ideal is prime, so , contradicting minimality of . Therefore and .
Now apply the Nagata theorem for divisor class groups. The class group of vanishes by the divisor-class criterion for unique factorization. Hence is generated by height-one primes that meet . Such a prime contains and must equal , because the Krull principal ideal theorem makes the nonzero prime itself height one. Its divisor class is principal, so . A second application of the divisor-class criterion yields
This argument is the Nagata criterion for unique factorization domains.
The element belongs to the fraction field of and is integral over , since it satisfies the monic polynomial . But . Thus is not integrally closed domain and hence is not a Dedekind domain.
Put , let
be 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 .
If an element of the fraction field is absent from a valuation ring , its inverse belongs to the maximal ideal. A monic equation for , multiplied by a power of , would put in that maximal ideal. Thus is an integrally closed domain, without a discrete or Noetherian hypothesis.