Transitivity of the Galois group on roots
Statement
If is irreducible over (characteristic ) and is its splitting field over , then , acting on the set of roots of in by permutation, acts transitively: for any there is with .
Why is it true?
This is why we can speak of "the Galois group of a polynomial" and not just "of a field extension": it explains why every root of an irreducible polynomial is algebraically indistinguishable from every other — there is always a symmetry of carrying one root to the other.
Proof sketch
Step 1: Since is irreducible over and are both roots, there is a -isomorphism with , — the basic property of minimal polynomials: via the isomorphism sending .
Step 2: is a splitting field of over both and (since is a splitting field over , and ). By the isomorphism extension theorem for splitting fields, extends to a field isomorphism .
Step 3: Since , we have , and . So for any two roots there is always some sending one to the other — precisely the definition of transitivity.
Topics that use this theorem
Step-by-step proofs
No step-by-step proof yet for this theorem.
References
- Ian Stewart (2015). Galois Theory (4th ed.) · DOI:10.1201/b18187
- David S. Dummit, Richard M. Foote (2004). Abstract Algebra (3rd ed.)