On the construction of primitive elements in field extensions (Q795100)

The subject of this paper are a priori constructions of primitive elements in Galois extensions. Consider the totality of all separable polynomials f of degree n over a field K with roots \(x_ 1,...,x_ n\) and prescribed common Galois group G. A vector \((b_ 1,...,b_ n)\in K^ n\) is called ''stably primitive'' (for G), if, for each such f, \(b_ 1x_ 1+...+b_ nx_ n\) generates the splitting field of f. We develop representation theoretical, in particular character theoretical devices for a geometric study of the set \({\mathcal X}\) of stably primitive vectors. A basic result is that \({\mathcal X}\) either contains a non-empty Zariski- open set in \(K^ n\), or is itself contained in a Zariski-closed set. Criteria are worked out to decide which of these two cases holds, and for each case several examples are studied in detail. For certain groups where the set \({\mathcal X}\) is ''small'' in the above sense we show that \({\mathcal X}\) is not empty.