GALOIS THEORY OVER CHARACTERISTIC 0 FIELDS

Let us suppose in this section that Char k = 0 and let Ω be an

algebraically closed field containing k. Let f (t) ∈ k[t] be a polynomial
and let Kf be the subfied of Ω generated by roots of f over k.
Definition 1 (Galois group of f over k). The group Autk (Kf ) is de-
noted by Gal(f ) or Gal(Kf /Q) is called the Galois group of f over
Q.
More generally we have
Definition 2. If K is a normal extension of a characteristic 0 field k,
then we define the Galois group Gal(K | k) to be
Gal(K | k) := Autk (K) = {σ : K → K | σ(λ) = λ, ∀λ ∈ k}
Lemma 1. Let deg(f ) = n and the set of distinct roots of f be labelled
as {α1 , . . . , αm } where m ≤ n. Then
(1) We get an embedding of the Galois group Gal(f ) into Sm , the
symmetric group of permutations of {1, 2, . . . , m}.
(2) If f is irreducible, then under this embedding, the Galois group
Gal(f ) can be identified with a transitive subgroup of Sm .
Proof. (1) Let σ ∈ Gal(f ), we then clearly have σ(αi ) = αj for some
j.Thus Gal(f ) is a subgroup of the permutations of {α1 , . . . , αm }
which in turn gives us the required embedding.
(2) To show that the image is a transitive subgroup, we have to
show that for any pair 1 ≤ i < j ≤ m, there is σij ∈ G such
that
σij (i) = j
In that case we also have σij−1 (j) = i. To that end note that Kf
is a splitting field of the irreducible polynomial f and hence has
the extension property discussed in the previous lecture. Thus
choose any k isomorphism (which exists always, again check the
previous notes)
µij : k(αi ) → k(αj )
We can extend µij to an element σij ∈ G. Then we have
σij (αi ) = αj
and hence we are done. 
1
2 GALOIS THEORY OVER CHARACTERISTIC 0 FIELDS

In the next section we will try to determine the Galois groups of

some polynomials (upto isomorphism and in some cases as a subgroup
of the relevant symmetric group).

1. Examples of Galois groups

Example 1. Let f = t2 + at + b with a, b ∈ Q. Note the roots of f
are rational if D = b2 − 4a is a square. If D is not a square, then the
splitting field is given by
√
Kf = Q( D)
Now Kf is a degree two extension and clearly we have
Gal(f ) = {Id, σ} ' C2
where Id is the identity automorphism of Kf and σ is given by
√ √
σ(e + f D) = e − f D, e, f ∈ Q
√ √ √
Example 2. Let f = x3 − 2. The roots of f are { 3 2, 3 2ω, 3 2ω 2 } and
f is irreducible. The Galois group is thus a subgroup of S3 which has
order 6. Now as before there is an element σ1 ∈ G, such that
√ √ √ √
σ1 ( 2) = 2ω, σ1 ( 2ω 2 ) = 2ω 2
3 3 3 3

Thus we have σ12 = Id and is an order two permutation in S3 . By

symmstery there are two other order two elements σ2 and σ3 . Thus
Gal(f ) has all the order two elements of S3 and hence must coincide
with S3 . Thus we have
Gal(f ) ' S3
Example 3. Consider the polynomial (reducible)
f = (x2 − 2)(x2 − 3)
√ √
The splitting field Kf is obtained by adding { 2, 3} to Q. Thus
√ √
Kf = Q( 2, 3) ⊂ C
Since for any σ ∈ Gal(f ), we have
√ √ √ √
σ({± 2}) = {± 2}, σ({± 3}) = {± 3}
we have
Gal(f ) ,→ S2 × S2 ,→ S4
Thus we have
Gal(f ) ' S2 ≈ C2 , or Gal(f ) ' S2 × S2
Now note that
√ √ √ √ √ √
σ1 (a + b 2 + c 3 + d 6) = a + b 2 − c 3 − d 6
 GALOIS THEORY OVER CHARACTERISTIC 0 FIELDS 3

and √ √ √ √ √ √
σ2 (a + b 2 + c 3 + d 6) = a − b 2 + c 3 + d 6
are two distinct non-identity elements in Gal(f ) and hence we must
have
Gal(f ) ' S2 × S2
Note that in all the above examples we had the following
o(Gal(f )) = [Kf : Q]
We will show that this is always the case, i.e
Proposition 1. For any normal extension K over a field k of charac-
teristic 0, we have
[K : k] = Gal(K | Q)
Proof. Let λ ∈ K be an element not in k. Then consider the tower
k ⊂ k(α) ⊆ K
If σ(α) = τ (α) for two elements σ, τ ∈ Gal(K | k), then we have
στ −1 ∈ Gal(K | k(α))
Now let [k(α) : k] = d. Then the minimal polynomial f of α over k has
degree d. The Lemma which will proved below says then f has exactly
d roots. Thus from the extension property of splitting fields, we have
Gal(K | k(α)) has index d in Gal(K | k). Now by induction, we have
o(Gal(K | k(α))) = [K : k(α)]. Thus we have
o(Gal(K | k)) = do(Gal(K | k(α))) = [k(α) : k][K : k(α)] = [K : k]

Lemma 2. If f is an irreducible polynomial od degree d over a charac-
teristic 0 field k, then in any algebraically closed field Ω ⊃ k, we have
f has exactly d roots or in otherwords f cannot have repreated roots.
Proof. Consider the map
δ : Ω[t] → Ω[t],
given by
δ(a0 + a1 t + · · · + an tn ) = a1 + 2a2 t + · · · + nan tn−1
Then δ has the following properties (verify this)
(1) δ is Ω linear
(2) δ(f g) = δ(f )g + f δ(g)
4 GALOIS THEORY OVER CHARACTERISTIC 0 FIELDS

Note since Char k = 0, we have

δ(f ) = 0 ⇐⇒ iai = 0, ∀i > 1 ⇐⇒ deg(f ) = 0
Now if suppose f had a repeated root λ ∈ Ω, then we have
f = (t − λ)r f˜, r ≥ 2
Thus we get
0
f := δ(f ) = r(t − λ)r−1 f˜ + (t − λ)r δ(f˜)
0 0 0 0
Thus δ is a root of f . But f ∈ k[t] and deg(f ) < deg(f ). Since f
0 0
is irreducible, we have this is possible only if f | f or f = 0, both of
which are absurd. Thus the Lemma is proved.