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L. Cangelmi: Abstract. Let F (X) Be A Monic Irreducible Integrai Polynomial. The Modem
L. Cangelmi: Abstract. Let F (X) Be A Monic Irreducible Integrai Polynomial. The Modem
Torino
Voi. 53, 3 (1995)
Number Theory
L. Cangelmi
we need to fix an ordering of its roots: hence let A = { # i , . . . , an}. Then we can define
the following injective group homomorphism
G —> Sn
a i—• s
'<r(ai) = <x8(i),'fori=lì...ìn.
If we let G denote the group which is the image of G in Sn, then we have
Gal(/) ~ G.
As there exists a unique permutation r E Sn such that oc\ = cxr^, for ali i = 1 , . . . , n, we
can write, for ali i— 1,..., n and for ali <r £ G:
G' = r~lGr.
3. Resolvent polynomials
In this section, we give the more general definition of resolvent polynomials: we
start with the classical definition, and then we give the modem defìnition, showing the
relation between them. Firstly, it is necessary to define the action of the symmetric group
Sn on the integrai polynomials in n indeterminates.
210 L. Cangelmì
However, the number of terms of this polynomial is equal to |T| and its degree is n ( n + l ) / 2 ,
hence it is not of practical use in effective calculations. For groups T of small degree,
T-polynomials of small degree and few terms are well known. In general, the problem of
determining T-polynomials of small degree and with few terms is quite difficult and has
been deeply dealt with by Girstmair [11, 12, 13].
3 2. Classiceli definitions
In the classic literature, a rational resolvent polynomial (a resolvent, for short) of
f(X) is any irreducible polynomial g(X) G Q[X] which splits into linear factors in L[X].
In other words, ali the roots of g belong to the splitting field of / , that is they can be
written as rational functions of the roots of / [15; 22, §§152 and 162].
In particular, a Galois resolvent of / is an irreducible polynomial g E Q[X] such
that L = Q((3), for any root (3 of g. The best known Galois resolvents are the minimal
polynomials of certain elements of the kind miai -\ \-mnan, with mi,..., mn rational
integers.
On the other hand, an irrational resolvent polynomial of / is any irreducible
polynomial g £ Q[X] which splits into linear factors over some finite extension E of
L. In other words, ali the roots of g belong to a finite extension E of the splitting field of
/ , that is they can be written as rational functions of the roots of / and of finitely more
algebraic numbers [16].
Resolvents and Galois groups 211
A well known example of irrational resolvents are the Lagrange resolvents, whose
roots ali belong to the fìeld £((), where ( is a suitable root of unity.
Now, let g(X) be a resolvent of f(X): we can assume that g is monic and with
integrai coeffìcients. Let /? be one of its roots and suppose tofixsome ordering of the
roots of'/: then /? = F(ai,... , a n ) , for some polynomial F £ Q[Xi,... ,Xn], and we
can assume that F e %[Xi,... ,Xn]. Note that since (3 e L, G acts on it. On the other
hand, if we let G denote the isomorphic image of G in Sn induced by the fixed ordering
of the roots, G acts on the indices of the cti's. Hence, for any a e G, letting s denote its
image in G, we have:
<Tj3=<TF(aii...,an) = F(<r(ai)ì...ìcr(an)) =
F(as(i),..., «,(„)) = sF(ai,..., an)
Y[(X-ap)='[[(X-8F(àlì.;.ìan)):
it is left fixed by ali elements of G, hence it has rational (integrai) coeffìcients. It follows
that it is a multiple of g, which is the minimal polynomial of /3. Then, letting.5 = Stab(F),
it is obvious that g divides also
Y[ (X -sF(alì...,an))ì
seo/snG
which has rational (integrai) coeffìcients as well. Furthermore, with analogous arguments,
we can prove that g must divide also the following two rational (integrai) polynomials:
Y[ (X -sF(au...,an)),
sesn
and, as a consequence,
JJ (X~sF(a1,...,an)).
sesn/s
AH this shows the reason for introducing the slightly different definitions of resolvents
given below.
Fix a polynomial F e 7L\X\,..., Xn] and use the notations above. Fix an ordering
212 L. Cangelmi
R(FJ)(X):= JI (X-sF(a1,...ìan))
s£Sn/S
m
= Y[(X—sjF(alì...ìan))
3=1
m
J= l
i2(F, / ) is a monic polynomial of degree [£„ : S], with integrai coefficients. In fact, since
R(F, / ) is left fixed by any permutation of the roots of / , its coefficients are symmetric
polynomials in the roots of / , hence they can be written as integrai polynomials in the
elementary symmetric polynomials of the roots of / , that is in the coefficients of / .
Furthermore, it is easily seen that the definition of R(F, / ) does not depend on the choice
of the ordering of the roots of / .
If we fix an ordering of the roots of / , the group G is uniquely determined. So we
can fix a subgroup H of Sn such that G C H. Keeping in force the above notations, we
can define the resolvent of / with respect to F in H,
RH(FJ)(X): =H (X-sF(a1,...,an))
m'
= H(X-s'jlF(a1,...,an))
m'
= l[(X-F},{all...iQn)):
j'-i
coefficients of R(F, f) are rational integers. We fìx some numerical approximations of the
roots of / , { a i , . . . ,a„}, and we compute the following product (Sn acts on the a,;'s by
permuting their indices in the same way as it does on the a^-'s):
Jl.(X-8F(àli...ìan)).
s€Sn/S
If the above approximations are "accurate enough", then the coefficients of this product are
approximations of the coefficients of R(F, f) within an absolute error less than 1/2. So,
they uniquely determine the coefficients of R(F, / ) , which we know to be rational integers
[19].
Such a method can be also applied to the computation of Rn{F,f). However, in
this case, we have to make the representation of G as permutation group on A explicit:
that is, we have to explicitly determine G in relation with the chosen ordering of the roots
of/.
PROPOSITION 1. [7, 18] The action ofG on the roots of R is equivalent to the
action of G on Sn • F. This action, in turn, is equivalent to the action of G on Sn/S.
Since the orbits of the roots of R under the action of G are equal to the sets of the
roots of the irreducible factors of R over Q, we have the following result.
COROLLARY 2. [7, 18] The partition type of R is equal to the partition type of
Sn /S under G.
If there exists an orbit of Sn/S under G with only one element, then G is contained
in a conjugate of S. Therefore, we deduce the following.
COROLLARY 3. [19] R has a rational (integrai) mot ifand only ifG is contained
in a conjugate of S.
With respect to any ordering of the roots of / , we know that the subgroup G of Sn
is transitive. Therefore, if G is different from Sn, then it is contained in some maximal
transitive subgroup of Sn. Fix an ordering of the roots of / and let M be a maximal
214 L. Cangelmi
transitive subgroup of Sn. Then, let F be a M-polynomial and let R = R(F,f), which
we assume to be square-free. Then, by Corollary (3), R has a rational root if and only if
G is contained in a conjugate of M.
Letting M vary among ali the maximal transitive subgroups of 5 n , there are two
possible cases: either we will find one of them containing G up to conjugacy or not. In
the latter case, it follows that G = Sn. In the former case, if M is the located group, we
deduce that, after a suitable re-ordering of the roots of / , the respective G is contained
in M. Then, we repeat this procedure as follows: we consider the maximal transitive
subgroups N of M, we fix some respective polynomials FN left fixed by N in M, we
compute the respective resolvents RNÌFN,/) (which we assume to be square-free) and
we verify if they have a rational root (Corollary (3) can be generalized to resolvents like
R'H(Fìf) in a n obvious way). So, we deduce whether G is equal to M; if this is not
the case, we will find a subgroup N of M containing G up to conjugacy. We iterate
the procedure until we locate G among ali the transitive subgroups of 5„; moreover, the
respective ordering of the roots of / turns out to be determined too. For an outline of this
method see [19], and for a precise implementation of it see [7].
In order to practically apply this method, it is necessary to know the structure of
the lattice of the transitive subgroups of Sn, up to conjugacy. Nowadays, this is known for
n < 15 [3, 4, 17]. For general n, such structure is not known; anyway, we know that An
is a maximal transitive (normal) subgroup of Sn.
l,n
EXAMPLE: An. For any n > 2, an yln-polynomial is F = TT(^» — Xj)-
A4
A D4
\ / \
7/2 x Z2 Z4
Examining the discriminant of / , we can see whether G is contained in A4 or not.
Regarding the other maximal subgroup, X1X3 + X2X4 proves to be a L>4-polynomial; by
Resolvents and Galois groups 215
A
\ /
Db
Z5
5. Linear resolvents
The linear resolvents are the resolvents with respect to polynomials F which are
linear in X\,... ,Xn. We will consider two major classes of linear resolvents: there
are the ones with F = X\ + • • • + Xr, for some r e { 1 , . . . ,rc}, and the ones with
F = eiXi + h erXr, for some r G {1,. •., n}, where eu . . . , er are distinct rational
non-zero integers. For the sake of briefness, we shall say that the former ones are linear
resolvents of the first kind, while the latter ones are linear resolvents of the second kind.
216 L Cangelmi
For both kinds of linear resolvents, the results of the previous section keep holding true.
Moreover, we will see that they can be interpreted in further different ways. On the other
side, they can be computed symbolically, by means of the resultant polynomials. Their
importance was first pointed out by McKay and Soicher [18], the resolvents of the first
kind have been widely used by Bruen, Jensen and Yui [2, 14], while Williamson [23, 24]
and the author [5] used the resolvents of the second kind.
We wish to state Corollary (2) in the case of linear resolvents in a slightly different
form, because of its importance. We need the following simple lemma.
EXAMPLE: n = 7 [7, 18]. In the following table, in the first column there are
the transitive groups of degree 7, up to conjugacy, while in the second column we have
the respective partition types induced by their action on the set of the 35 unordered triplets
Resolvents and Galois groups 217
of{l,2,...,7}.
?5
z7
Di 73 • 14
F21 72 • 21
F42 14-21
PSL2{7) 7 • 28
A7 35
s7 35
NOTE. The linear resolvents may be replaced by the following resolvents for
what concerns their partition types, since Proposition (5) keeps holding true for these new
resolvents (of course, the action of Sn on X\ + • • • Xn is equivalent to its action on
X\'" Xn, while the action on e\Xi + • • • enXn is equivalent to that on X^1 • • • X^n -
here, since, the e^'s may be negative, we let Sn act on Q(Xi,..., Xn) in the obvious way):
On the other hand, there exist several methods to symbolically compute such resultant. The
best known method says that the resultant is equal to the determinant of a certain matrix,
the Sylvester matrix, of order r + s, whose non-zero elements are the coefficients of <f>(X)
and ip(X).
As a first step, observe that, given <p(X) and ip(X) as above, and assuming
a == b = 1, the monic polynomial of degree r + s whose roots are a?; -f bj, for i = 1 , . . . , r
and i = 1 , . . . , s, can be computed as follows:
r s
Likewise, the polynomial of degree r + s whose roots are ciibj, for i = 1,... , r and
j ~ 1 , . . . , s, can be computed as follows:
V S
nn(^-^) = ray(^),r^/y)).
Thus, we may write down the following formulas, where e ^ 0,1:
reSy(/(y),/(x-y))\1/2
R(X1+X2,f)(X) =
THEOREM 7. [2] For p > 13, G is Frobenius (or, equivalently, G is solvable) if.
and only if either R2 is irreducible and R3 has at least three distinct irreducible factors
or R2 is reducible.
polynomials over number fields [20] (see also [21, Section 42]).
PROPOSITION 8. [5] Let f £ X[X] be a monic irreducible polynomial ofdegree ri.
Let a be a root of f and R= R(X\ + eX2, / ) , far some e ^ 0,1 such that R is square-
free. Then, every irreducible factor of f over Q(a), different from X — a and ofdegree d,
corresponds to an irreducible factor ofR over Q, ofdegree nd. Therefore, the partition type
off overQ(a) is I n i • • • nt ifandonly ifthe partition type of RoverQ is (nrii) • • • (nnt).
We must observe that R(X\ -f- eX2, / ) is not square-free for only finitely many
integers e (see, e.g., [23]).
EXAMPLE: NORMAL POLYNOMIALS. An irreducible polynomial / of degree ri
is normal if and only if one (and therefore, any) of its roots is a primitive element for the
splitting fìeld L. Thus, if we fìx a root a of / , any other root can be written as a polynomial
(of degree < n — 1, with rational coefficients) of a; furthermore, the fìeld Q(a) is equal to
L, and so the extension Q(a)/Q is normal (the definition of normal polynomials originates
from this fact). An equivalent definition of normal polynomial is that the Galois group
of / has order equal to n (hence, it is a regular group when considered as a permutation
group on the roots of / ) . Thus, if / is a normal polynomial and a is one of its roots, /
must split into linear factors over Q(a).
PROPOSITION 9. [5,18] The polynomial f is normal if and only ifthe partition
n 1
type of R is n ~ .
EXAMPLE: GENERALIZED DIHEDRAL GROUPS OF ODD DEGREE. A generalized
dihedral group is a semi-direct produci AxZ2, where A is an abelian group and Z2 acts,
by conjugation, on A by inverse (i.e. if Z2 = (r) and x E A, xT — x~l).
Let / be an irreducible monic polynomial, with integrai coefficients and of odd
degree n; then, let R = R(X± •+• eX2ìf), for some e ^ 0,1 such that R is square-free.
It is easy to prove that if the Galois group is generalized dihedral of order 2n, then the
partition type of / over Q(a) is 1 • 2(~n~1^2, where a is one of the roots of / . Then,
Williamson shows that also the converse holds true.
As in the previous case, if the Galois group is Frobenius of order pn with complement of
order p, then the partition type of / over Q(a) is 1 • p( n_1 )/p, where a is a root of /..
Applying some ideas of Williamson [24] to the effective characterization given in [5], we
can show that the converse holds true as well, under an essential further condition.
THEOREM 11. (see [5, 24]) G is Frobenius with complement of prime order
p, G = N-AZP, with \N\ = n, if and only if the partition type of R is (pn)( n ~ 1 )/ p and
[L : Q] = pn.
The latter condition may be effectively verified in several ways, one of which relies
on the factorization of another linear resolvent of the second kind.
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Leonardo CANGELMI
Dipartimento di Metodi e Modelli Matematici per le Scienze Applicate
Università di Roma "La Sapienza"
Via A. Scarpa, 16
00161 Roma, Italy.