Fields That Are Defined By Their Absolute Galois Groups
Some profinite groups occur as the absolute Galois group of non-isomorphic fields. A first example for this is
This group is isomorphic to the absolute Galois group of an arbitrary finite field. Also the absolute Galois group of the field of formal Laurent series C((t)) over the complex numbers is isomorphic to that group.
To get another example, we bring below two non-isomorphic fields whose absolute Galois groups are free (that is free profinite group).
- Let C be an algebraically closed field and x a variable. Then Gal(C(x)) is free of rank equal to the cardinality of C. (This result is due to Adrien Douady for 0 characteristic and has its origins in Riemann's existence theorem. For a field of arbitrary characteristic it is due to David Harbater and Florian Pop, and was also proved later by Dan Haran and Moshe Jarden.)
- The absolute Galois group Gal(Q) (where Q are the rational numbers) is compact, and hence equipped with a normalized Haar measure. For a Galois automorphism s (that is an element in Gal(Q)) let Ns be the maximal Galois extension of Q that s fixes. Then with probability 1 the absolute Galois group Gal(Ns) is free of countable rank. (This result is due to Moshe Jarden.)
In contrast to the above examples, if the fields in question are finitely generated over Q, Florian Pop proves that an isomorphism of the absolute Galois groups yields an isomorphism of the fields:
Theorem. Let K, L be finitely generated fields over Q and let a: Gal(K) → Gal(L) be an isomorphism. Then there exists a unique isomorphism of the algebraic closures, b: Kalg → Lalg, that induces a.
This generalizes an earlier work of Jürgen Neukirch and Koji Uchida on number fields.
Read more about this topic: Field Arithmetic
Famous quotes containing the words fields, defined, absolute and/or groups:
“East and west on fields forgotten
Bleach the bones of comrades slain,
Lovely lads and dead and rotten;
None that go return again.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)
“There is no such thing as a language, not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed. There is therefore no such thing to be learned, mastered, or born with. We must give up the idea of a clearly defined shared structure which language-users acquire and then apply to cases.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)
“Atheism..., that bugbear of women and fools, is the very top and perfection of free-thinking. It is the grand arcanum to which a true genius naturally riseth, by a certain climax or gradation of thought, and without which he can never possess his soul in absolute liberty and repose.”
—George Berkeley (1685–1753)
“Women over fifty already form one of the largest groups in the population structure of the western world. As long as they like themselves, they will not be an oppressed minority. In order to like themselves they must reject trivialization by others of who and what they are. A grown woman should not have to masquerade as a girl in order to remain in the land of the living.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)