Modulus (algebraic Number Theory) - Definition

Definition

Let K be a global field with ring of integers R. A modulus is a formal product

where p runs over all places of K, finite or infinite, the exponents ν(p) are zero except for finitely many p. If K is a number field, ν(p) = 0 or 1 for real places and ν(p) = 0 for complex places. If K is a function field, ν(p) = 0 for all infinite places.

In the function field case, a modulus is the same thing as an effective divisor, and in the number field case, a modulus can be considered as special form of Arakelov divisor.

The notion of congruence can be extended to the setting of moduli. If a and b are elements of K×, the definition of a ≡∗b (mod pν) depends on what type of prime p is:

  • if it is finite, then
where ordp is the normalized valuation associated to p;
  • if it is a real place (of a number field) and ν = 1, then
under the real embedding associated to p.
  • if it is any other infinite place, there is no condition.

Then, given a modulus m, a ≡∗b (mod m) if a ≡∗b (mod pν(p)) for all p such that ν(p) > 0.

Read more about this topic:  Modulus (algebraic Number Theory)

Famous quotes containing the word definition:

    “Beauty, like all other qualities presented to human experience, is relative; and the definition of it becomes unmeaning and useless in proportion to its abstractness. To define beauty not in the most abstract, but in the most concrete terms possible, not to find a universal formula for it, but the formula which expresses most adequately this or that special manifestation of it, is the aim of the true student of aesthetics.”
    —Walter Pater (1839–1894)

    “The very definition of the real becomes: that of which it is possible to give an equivalent reproduction.... The real is not only what can be reproduced, but that which is always already reproduced. The hyperreal.”
    —Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)

    “Perhaps the best definition of progress would be the continuing efforts of men and women to narrow the gap between the convenience of the powers that be and the unwritten charter.”
    —Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923)