Alphabeta Math
TheoremStatement: Literature-sourcedProof: AI-adaptedSession-authored (Fable 5 assisted)precheck passaudited 2026-08-17
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.

Assuming Choice, separable closures exist and are base-isomorphic

Statement

Assuming the Axiom of Choice, every field F has a separable closure: a separable algebraic extension Fsep/F in which every nonconstant separable polynomial splits. Any two separable closures are F-isomorphic. No uniqueness of the isomorphism is asserted.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A field F and the Axiom of Choice.

[L1]

Assuming Choice, every field has an algebraic closure (Assuming Choice, every field has an algebraic closure).

[L2]

Inside an algebraic extension, the elements separable over the base form the relative separable closure (The separable closure of the base inside an algebraic extension).

[L3]

Separability is transitive in algebraic towers (Separability is transitive in towers of algebraic extensions).

[L4]

Polynomial gcd is unchanged after extending the coefficient field (The monic gcd of two base-field polynomials is unchanged after extending the coefficient field).

[L5]

Assuming Choice, a base embedding extends across an algebraic extension into an algebraically closed field (Assuming Choice, a base-field embedding extends across every algebraic extension).

[L6]

A field generated by finitely many algebraic elements is finite over its base (An extension generated by finitely many algebraic elements is finite).

Proof

technique · direct
1.1

Choose an algebraic closure Ω/F by [L1] and let S=Ωs be its relative separable closure from [L2]. Then S/F is algebraic and separable.

L1L2choose
1.2

Let S1,S2 be separable closures and choose an algebraic closure Ω2 of S2 using [L1]. By [L5], the identity of F extends to an embedding σ:S1Ω2. Images of elements separable over F remain separable. Conversely, if aΩ2 is separable over F, then its minimal polynomial over S2 divides its separable minimal polynomial over F, so it is separable over the separably closed field S2 and therefore lies in S2. Hence σ(S1)S2.

L1L5algebra
2.1

Let qS[x] be nonconstant and separable. Its finitely many coefficients generate a finite subextension E/F of S/F by [L6]. By [L4], q is already separable over E. Each root aΩ is separable over E, while E/F is separable; [L3] makes a separable over F, so aS. Thus q splits in S.

step 1.1L2L3L4L6
2.2

The image σ(S1) is separably closed. For aS2, its minimal polynomial over σ(S1) divides its separable minimal polynomial over F, so it is separable over σ(S1). Separable closedness therefore forces a into the image. Thus σ:S1S2 is an F-isomorphism. The construction does not assert uniqueness.

step 1.2algebra
3.1

Steps 1.1 and 2.1 give existence, while steps 1.2 and 2.2 give base-field isomorphism of any two separable closures.

step 1.1step 2.1step 1.2step 2.2

Depends on

Used by

Nothing in the library uses this result yet.

Dependency tree · next 3 levels

Direct dependencies and their dependencies through the next three levels: 75 results over 23 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