Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / ii / Paper 1 / 19H / c / Solution

Choose an integral basis $u_1,\dots ,u_d$ of the nonzero ideal $\mathfrak{a}$. Its rational span is $L$, since it contains a nonzero integer multiple of ${\mathcal{O}}_L$. The condition $x\mathfrak{a}\subseteq \mathfrak{a}$ gives integers $m_{ij}$ with $x{u}_j={\sum }_i{m}_{ij}{u}_i$. Thus multiplication by $x$ on $L$ has an integer matrix $M$ in this basis.

Its characteristic polynomial $P(t)=\det (tI-M)$ is monic with integer coefficients. By the Cayley-Hamilton theorem, $P(M)=0$. On the field $L$, this is multiplication by $P(x)$, so $P(x)=0$. Hence $x$ is an algebraic integer, andThis is the determinant trick for an ideal preserved by multiplication.