Non-Archimedean place of a number field Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
If a prime ideal of lies over the prime number with ramification index , its normalized absolute value isIt extends the usual p-adic absolute value on . Its local degree is , where is the residue-field degree.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 136 1 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Suppose first that is a totally ramified extension of degree , and let be a uniformizer of . If the valuation on is normalized by , then . The value group of already contains both and , so its ramification index over is at least . Hence , and therefore .
Letbe the minimal polynomial of . Every conjugate of has positive valuation, so each lies in the maximal ideal of . Moreoverwhich means . Thus is an Eisenstein polynomial.
Conversely, if is a root of an Eisenstein polynomial of degree , the Eisenstein criterion makes that polynomial irreducible and its Newton polygon gives when is normalized. Consequently ; equality with the field degree forces and residue-field degree one. Thus is totally ramified.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 166 2 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Let be a number field. Its places consist of its real embeddings, conjugate pairs of complex embeddings, and the finite places associated with nonzero prime ideals of its ring of integers of a number field. At a real or complex place use the usual absolute value. If lies over the prime number with ramification index , normalize its absolute value byThese normalizations extend the standard absolute values on .
Write for the local degree of a place. Thus is at a real place, at a complex place, and at a finite place. The Absolute multiplicative Weil height isThe product formula shows that this is unchanged when is replaced by a larger number field containing .
Totally ramified extension Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
A finite extension of local fields is totally ramified when its residue-field degree is one, equivalently when its ramification index equals its field degree.