Conditions satisfied by characteristic polynomials in fields and division algebras

Polynomials in general fields (irreducibility, etc.) (12E05) Equations in general fields (12E12) Skew fields, division rings (12E15) Group actions on varieties or schemes (quotients) (14L30)

Abstract: Suppose E/F is a field extension. We ask whether or not there exists an element of E whose characteristic polynomial has one or more zero coefficients in specified positions. We show that the answer is frequently ``no. We also prove similar results for division algebras and show that the universal division algebra of degree n does not have an element of trace 0 and norm 1.

Review text

Let \(F\) be a field, \(E\) a finite extension of \(F\), and \(D\) a central simple \(F\)-algebra. The paper under review deals with the problem of whether \(E\) and \(D\) contain elements whose characteristic polynomials over \(F\) have zero coefficients at fixed points. The research in this direction is motivated by the fact that classical results on polynomials of degree \(5\) and \(6\) over fields are equivalent to special cases of the posed problem; this also applies to the well-known open question (put forward by Albert) of whether central division \(F\)-algebras of prime Schur indices are necessarily cyclic. The characteristic polynomial of an element \(\xi \) of \(D\) or \(E\) is presented in the form NEWLINE\[NEWLINEf(\lambda) = \lambda ^n + \sigma _1 (\xi)\lambda ^{n-1} +\cdots+ \sigma _n (\xi),NEWLINE\]NEWLINE where \(n = [D:F]\) or \([E:F]\), respectively. NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEThe authors show that the system \(\sigma _j (X _1)=\dots= \sigma _j (X _m) = 0\), \(\sigma _i (X _1\dots X _m) = 0\) has no nontrivial solutions in the universal division algebra \(UD(n)\), provided that \(j\) and \(m\) are divisible by the square-free part of \(n\), and char\((k)\) does not divide \(n!\). In particular, this implies the nonexistence of an element of \(UD(n)\) of reduced trace zero and reduced norm one. Also, it has been proved that if \(k\) is a field, \(k _n\) is the rational function field in algebraically independent indeterminates \(Y _1,\dots, Y _n\) over \(k\), \(L _n\) is an extension of \(k _n\) obtained by adjoining a root of the polynomial \(X _n + Y _1X ^{n-1} +\cdots+ Y _n\), \((n _1, n _2)\) is a pair of positive integers not divisible by char\((k)\) and satisfying the condition \(n _1 + n _2 = n\), and \((m _1, m _2)\) is a pair of positive integers divisible by the square-free part of \(n\), and such that \((-n _2/n _1) ^{(m _2 - m _1)} \neq 1\) in \(k\), then the system of equations \(\text{tr}(x ^{m _1}) = \text{tr}(x ^{m _2}) = 0\) has no nontrivial solution in \(L _n ^{\ast }\). The proofs bear an algebro-geometric character and include several statements of independent interest.

Recommendations

Cites work

Cited in

(9)

This page was built for publication: Conditions satisfied by characteristic polynomials in fields and division algebras

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q5956876)