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.
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.