English

Nontriviality of rings of integral-valued polynomials

Number Theory 2026-03-10 v2 Commutative Algebra

Abstract

Let SS be a subset of Z\overline{\mathbb Z}, the ring of all algebraic integers. A polynomial fQ[X]f \in \mathbb Q[X] is said to be integral-valued on SS if f(s)Zf(s) \in \overline{\mathbb Z} for all sSs \in S. The set IntQ(S,Z)\text{Int}_{\mathbb Q}(S,\overline{\mathbb Z}) of all integral-valued polynomials on SS forms a subring of Q[X]\mathbb Q[X] containing Z[X]\mathbb Z[X]. We say that IntQ(S,Z)\text{Int}_{\mathbb Q}(S,\overline{\mathbb Z}) is trivial if IntQ(S,Z)=Z[X]\text{Int}_{\mathbb Q}(S,\overline{\mathbb Z}) = \mathbb Z[X], and nontrivial otherwise. We give a collection of necessary and sufficient conditions on SS in order IntQ(S,Z)\text{Int}_{\mathbb Q}(S,\overline{\mathbb Z}) to be nontrivial. Our characterizations involve, variously, topological conditions on SS with respect to fixed extensions of the pp-adic valuations to Q\overline{\mathbb Q}; pseudo-monotone sequences contained in SS; ramification indices and residue field degrees; and the polynomial closure of SS in Z\overline{\mathbb Z}.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2407.09351,
  title  = {Nontriviality of rings of integral-valued polynomials},
  author = {Giulio Peruginelli and Nicholas J. Werner},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.09351},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

any comment is welcome! accepted for publication in Mathematische Nachrichten (2025)