In this post a proof of the following theorem is going to be sketched, following the treatment in Borevich and Shafarevich’s Number Theory. This sketch is by no means meant to be highly detailed and I am writing it mostly for my own purposes, so I avoid proving some things, even if they aren’t that straightforward.

Thue’s theorem: Suppose \(f(x,y)=a_0x^n+a_1x^{n-1}y+\dots+a_ny^n\) is a binary form which has degree \(n\geq 3\), is irreducible (i.e. \(f(x,1)\) is an irreducible polynomial in \(x\)) and \(f(x,1)\) has at least one nonreal root in \(\mathbb C\). Then for any nonzero integer \(c\) the equation \(f(x,y)=c\) has only finitely many integral solutions.

Proof: Suppose otherwise…

Read More

This post is based on Marcus’s Number Fields. More specifically, it is based on a series of exercises following chapter 4.

Recall the definition of the intertia group of a prime \(\frak P\) in \(\mathcal O_L\) lying over a prime \(\frak p\) in \(\mathcal O_K\) (\(L/K\) is a Galois extension of number fields) – it’s the set of all \(\sigma\in G=\mathrm{Gal}(L/K)\) such that, for all \(\alpha\in L\), we have \(\sigma(\alpha)\equiv\alpha\pmod{\frak P}\). We now generalize this group.

Definition: In setting as above, we define the \(n\)th ramification group \(E_n\) to be the set of all \(\sigma\in G\) such that \(\sigma(\alpha)\equiv\alpha\pmod{\frak P^{n+1}}\). The groups \(E_n,n>1\) are called the higher ramification groups.

Read More

Discriminant of a number field is arguably its most important numerical invariant. Quite closely connected to it is the different ideal. Here we discuss the most basic properties of these two concepts. The discussion mostly follows this expository paper by K. Conrad, but also takes from a series of exercises in chapter 3 of Number Fields.

Read More

We shall establish relations between degrees, inertia degrees and ramification indices involved in decomposition and inertia field of a given prime in Galois extension. This is based on Marcus’s Number Fields and online notes by R. Ash. It follows a very similar appoach to, but is not based on, the one which can be found in this blog post by Sander Mack-Crane. For this blog post, understanding of Galois theory and basic facts about number fields is necessary.

Read More

Based on arguments in Marcus’s Number Fields and K. Conrad’s expository paper on ideal factorization. I assume familiarity with the concepts related to ideals and fractional ideals in a commutative ring.

Recall that an integral domain \(R\) with the field of fractions \(K\) is called a Dedekind domain if the following conditions hold:

• \(R\) is Noetherian, so every nonempty set of ideals has a maximal element, or equivalently, every ideal is finitely generated,
• every prime ideal in \(R\) is a maximal ideal, and
• \(R\) is integrally closed in \(K\), so that every root of a monic polynomial from \(R[x]\) lying in \(K\) lies in \(R\).

Our goal is to prove the following proposition:

Proposition: Assume \(R\) is a Dedekind domain. For any nonzero (i.e. containing a nonzero element) fractional ideal \(I\) in \(K\) there exists a fractional ideal \(J\) such that \(IJ=R\).

Read More