English

An Elementary Problem in Galois Theory about the Roots of Irreducible Polynomials

Number Theory 2024-03-27 v4 Commutative Algebra

Abstract

For a field KK, and a root α\alpha of an irreducible polynomial over KK (in some algebraic closure) the number of roots of f(x)f(x) lying in K(α)K(\alpha) is studied here. Given such an f(x)f(x) of degree nn for which rr of the roots are i n K(α)K(\alpha), we describe a construction that yields, for d2d\ge2, irreducible polynomials of degree ndnd and with exactly rdrd of the roots in the field generated by any one root of those polynomials. Our results are valid for all number fields and possibly some more perfect fields. As an application, for K=QK=Q and positive integers n3,d2n\ge3,d\ge2, we provide irreducible polynomials of degree ndnd with exactly dd roots in the field generated by one of the roots. Independently, for k<nk<n, we construct irreducible polynomials over the rationals of degree n!/(nk)!n!/(n-k)! for which the field generated by one root contains exactly k!k! roots. Many interesting new questions for further research are provided.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2310.13880,
  title  = {An Elementary Problem in Galois Theory about the Roots of Irreducible Polynomials},
  author = {M Krithika and P Vanchinathan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2310.13880},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

Changes in Version 3: (i) generalization from Q to any number field (ii) Additional section at end providing Examples and SAGE code. Changes in Version 2: an error in the proof in version 1 corrected; changed the title (previous title was "Root Clusters..."). No more revisions planned!