Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2002 / iii / Paper 3 / 3

For a finite point $p$, use the valuation $v_p$ with local parameter $u=t-p$; at infinity use $u=1/t$. Its extensions $w$ to $E$ are permuted transitively by $G$. The completed residue field is $F$, because $F$ is algebraically closed, so the local decomposition group equals its inertia group.

Write $e=e(w/v_p)$. Characteristic zero makes all local ramification tame. One can choose a uniformizer $\pi$ in the completion for whichIndeed, initially $u$ is ${\pi }^e$ times a unit; that unit has an $e$th root in $F[[\pi ]]$, by its algebraically closed residue field and the invertibility of $e$. Absorb it into $\pi$. The local automorphisms are then $\pi \mapsto \zeta \pi$, $\zeta \in {\mu }_e(F)$, and form a cyclic group of order $e$. Define $e_p=e$.

To specify an element rather than a subgroup, fix a compatible choice of primitive roots of unity ${\zeta }_e\in F$. Define ${\tau }_w$ by its uniformizer characterand let $C_p$ be its conjugacy class in $G$. Over $\mathbb{C}$, take ${\zeta }_e=e^{2\pi i/e}$, corresponding to positive local continuation around $p$. At an unramified point, $e_p=1$ and $C_p=\{1\}$.

Changing the uniformizer does not affect this character. If ${\pi }^{\prime }=a\pi$ with $a$ a unit, inertia fixes its residue, soThe character is injective: a nonidentity finite-order automorphism with derivative one would have $\tau (\pi )=\pi +b{\pi }^r+\cdots$ for $r\ge 2$, and its $N$th iterate would have coefficient $Nb$ at that first nonzero displacement. Characteristic zero contradicts finite order. Thus the chosen primitive character identifies a unique generator.

For another place $w^{\prime }=\sigma w$, conjugation gives $D_{w^{\prime }}=\sigma D_w{\sigma }^{-1}$, preserves its order, and carries ${\tau }_w$ to ${\tau }_{w^{\prime }}$, since $\sigma$ fixes the constants and hence ${\zeta }_e$. This proves that $e_p$ and the branch-cycle conjugacy class are independent of the place and uniformizer. Without the stated roots-of-unity convention, only the cyclic inertia-subgroup conjugacy class is intrinsic: replacing ${\zeta }_e$ by another primitive root replaces the generator by a coprime power, which need not lie in the same conjugacy class.

Put $u=t-p$ and write $a(t)=u^{r}b(u)$, where $b(0)\ne 0$. The unit $b$ has a square root in $\mathbb{C}[[u]]$. Dividing the radical by that square root and by $u^{\lfloor r/2\rfloor }$ reduces the completed extension toIf $r$ is even, it is unramified and locally splits; if $r$ is odd, adjoining $u^{1/2}$ gives ramification index two. At points where $a(p)\ne 0$, $r=0$ and there is no branch. ThereforeFor infinity set $u=1/t$. If $D=\mathrm{deg}a$,The same quadratic branch parity criterion applies to the negative valuation $-D$, soThe generic irreducibility excludes $a$ being a square. Local splitting at the even-order places is compatible with that global irreducibility. The number of odd finite orders plus the possible odd infinity order is even, as also follows from the sum of orders of a rational function being zero.