How statement and proof provenance work
The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.
- Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
- AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
- AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.
These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.
is the union of its finite subfields and is an infinite algebraic extension
Example
For a prime , an algebraic closure is the union of its finite subfields. It contains one subfield of order for every , the nested fields for exhaust it, and it is an infinite algebraic extension of .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A prime and an algebraic closure .
An element is algebraic over a field exactly when its simple extension is finite (An element is algebraic over if and only if its simple extension is finite).
Frobenius and all its iterates respect field operations in characteristic (Frobenius is an injective endomorphism in characteristic , and an automorphism for finite fields).
A subset containing and closed under subtraction, multiplication, and nonzero inverses is a subfield (Subfield: a subring of a field closed under inverses of its nonzero elements, and therefore a field with the restricted operations).
Every field of order is the splitting field of over its prime field, and all of its elements are roots (A field with elements is the splitting field of over its prime subfield).
Over every finite field there is an irreducible polynomial of each positive degree (For every finite field and every , a monic irreducible polynomial of degree exists).
An algebraic closure is algebraic over its base and algebraically closed (An algebraic closure of a field).
A nonzero polynomial is separable exactly when it is coprime to its derivative (A nonzero polynomial over a field is separable exactly when its gcd with its derivative is ).
The degree of a simple algebraic extension is the degree of the minimal polynomial of its generator (A simple algebraic extension is its minimal-polynomial quotient and has power basis and degree ).
Verification
Every is algebraic over by [L6], so [L1] makes a finite field. Hence is the union of its finite subfields.
For , let be the roots in of . This polynomial splits by [L6], and its derivative is , so [L7] gives exactly distinct roots. By [L2], the root set is closed under subtraction and multiplication, and it is closed under nonzero inverses; hence [L3] makes a subfield of order . Any other subfield of that order consists entirely of roots by [L4], so it equals .
If lies in a finite subfield of order , choose . Every element of that subfield satisfies by [L4]. Since divides , iterating Frobenius by [L2] gives , so the subfield lies in . The same argument shows , and step 1.1 now shows that their nested union is all of .
The irreducibles supplied by [L5] have roots in by [L6], and [L8] makes the generated simple subextensions have arbitrarily large finite degree. Therefore cannot be finite, while it is algebraic by [L6].
Depends on
- An algebraic closure of a field
- An element is algebraic over $F$ if and only if its simple extension $F(a)/F$ is finite
- Frobenius $x\mapsto x^p$ is an injective endomorphism in characteristic $p$, and an automorphism for finite fields
- Subfield: a subring of a field closed under inverses of its nonzero elements, and therefore a field with the restricted operations
- A field with $q$ elements is the splitting field of $x^q-x$ over its prime subfield
- For every finite field $\mathbb F_q$ and every $n\ge1$, a monic irreducible polynomial of degree $n$ exists
- A nonzero polynomial over a field is separable exactly when its gcd with its derivative is $1$
- A simple algebraic extension is its minimal-polynomial quotient and has power basis $1,a,\ldots,a^{n-1}$ and degree $n$
Used by
- FALSE: every algebraic extension is simple False statement
Dependency tree · next 3 levels
Direct dependencies and their dependencies through the next three levels: 120 results over 17 levels. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, and this result sits at the bottom with a heavier outline. Click the chart to enlarge it.
Sources
- J. S. Milne, Fields and Galois Theory, finite fields and algebraic closures (standard reference, not scraped)