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Let $L/K$ be an extension of number fields. Denote by $\mathcal{O}_L$ and $\mathcal{O}_K$ the rings of integers of $L$ and $K$.

Given a prime ideal $\mathfrak{p} \subseteq \mathcal{O}_K$, the corresponding ideal $\mathfrak{p}\mathcal{O}_L := \{ \sum_i p_i x_i : p_i \in \mathfrak{p}, x_i \in \mathcal{O}_L \}$ in $\mathcal{O}_L$ decomposes uniquely into prime ideals as $$ \mathfrak{p}\mathcal{O}_L = \mathfrak{q_1}^{a_1}\mathfrak{q_2}^{a_2} \cdots \mathfrak{q}_k^{a_k}. $$ One says that $\mathfrak{p}$ is an inert prime if we have $k=1$ and $a_1 = 1$, i.e. if the ideal stays prime in $\mathcal{O}_L$.

My question is:

Does there exist at least one prime ideal in $\mathcal{O}_K$ which is inert?

Watson
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abenthy
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1 Answers1

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Not always. If $L/K$ is a Galois extension with non-cyclic Galois group, then there is no inert prime.

Indeed, if $p \subset O_K$ is inert in $L$, then the decomposition group $D_p \subset \mathrm{Gal}(L/K) = G$ is the whole Galois group $G$, and the inertia subgroup $I_p \subset G$ is trivial. But it always holds that $D_p / I_p$ is isomorphic to the Galois group $H$ of the residual fields $O_L/P$ and $O_K/p$, which are finite (where $P$ is the given prime ideal of $O_L$ above $p$, in our case $P = pO_K$ is prime). In particular, $H$ is cyclic. Therefore $D_p / I_p \cong D_p = G$ is cyclic.

In other words, if $G$ is not cyclic, then there is no inert prime in $L/K$. (And the converse is true also. If $G$ is cyclic then there are infinitely many inert primes in $L/K$. Indeed, if $\mathfrak p$ is a prime ideal in $\mathcal O_K$ that is unramified in $L$ and its Frobenius automorphism in $G$ is a generator of the cyclic group $G$, then the order of the Frobenius automorphism of $\mathfrak p$ is $|G|$ so the usual $efg = [L:K]$ equation for primes in a Galois extension turns into $1\cdot |G| g = |G|$, so $g = 1$ and thus $\mathfrak p\mathcal O_L$ is prime. The existence of infinitely many $\mathfrak p$ with any specific element of $G$ as its Frobenius automorphism follows from the Chebotarev density theorem.)


This fact has a nice application: the polynomial $x^4+1$ is irreducible over $\Bbb Q$ but is reducible mod $p$ for every prime integer $p$ (see here) !

What happens is that the splitting field of $x^4+1$ is $\Bbb Q(\zeta_8)/\Bbb Q$, which is a Galois and non-cyclic extension, so there are no inert primes in that extension. Indeed, if $p$ is inert, then $x^4+1$ would be irreducible (since $\Bbb Z[\zeta_8]$ is the ring of integers of $\Bbb Q(\zeta_8)$ — it is monogenic), see Neukirch's Algebraic number theory I.8.3.

KCd
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Watson
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    (If you want some details, most books on algebraic number theory cover this. You can look at Advanced Topics in Computational Number Theory, by H. Cohen, Corollary 10.1.7. Also, the converse holds: in a cyclic extension, there are at least one inert prime (and infinitely many, in fact!) — this is due to Chebotarev theorem. – Watson Jun 11 '18 at 15:18
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    Concerning your example of $x^4+1$, if the group $(\mathbf Z/n\mathbf Z)^\times$ is not cyclic (that's the same as $n$ not being 2, 4, an odd prime power, or twice an odd prime power) then the $n$th cyclotomic polynomial $\Phi_n(x)$ factors mod $p$ for all $p$ by the same reasoning Watson gives for $x^4 + 1 = \Phi_8(x)$. – KCd Jun 11 '18 at 15:35