Write and
Every member of this decomposition group preserves and , so reduction defines a homomorphism
Its kernel is the inertia group. We prove surjectivity of decomposition group reduction without presupposing a lift of Frobenius.
If the two residue fields coincide, surjectivity is immediate. Otherwise choose a nonzero generating it over ; a generator exists by the primitive element theorem for finite fields. Use the Chinese remainder theorem in to choose whose residue is at and zero at every other prime above . Consider
Its coefficients are integral and fixed by , hence lie in : an element of integral over belongs to this integrally closed ring of integers.
Reduce at . When , the chosen residue of at is zero, so reduces to zero at . When , its residue is , which is nonzero. Therefore
Although this product is written in , its coefficients belong to . Put . The finite-field Frobenius automorphism therefore permutes its nonzero roots. In particular, is for some . Since generates , that agrees with Frobenius on the whole field. The Galois group of a finite field extension is cyclic and generated by Frobenius, so its generator lies in the image. Thus