In mathematics, a field is pseudo algebraically closed if it satisfies certain properties which hold for algebraically closed fields. The concept was introduced by James Ax in 1967.[1]
Formulation
editA field K is pseudo algebraically closed (usually abbreviated by PAC[2]) if one of the following equivalent conditions holds:
- Each absolutely irreducible variety defined over has a -rational point.
- For each absolutely irreducible polynomial with and for each nonzero there exists such that and .
- Each absolutely irreducible polynomial has infinitely many -rational points.
- If is a finitely generated integral domain over with quotient field which is regular over , then there exist a homomorphism such that for each .
Examples
edit- Algebraically closed fields and separably closed fields are always PAC.
- Pseudo-finite fields and hyper-finite fields are PAC.
- A non-principal ultraproduct of distinct finite fields is (pseudo-finite and hence[3]) PAC.[2] Ax deduces this from the Riemann hypothesis for curves over finite fields.[1]
- Infinite algebraic extensions of finite fields are PAC.[4]
- The PAC Nullstellensatz. The absolute Galois group of a field is profinite, hence compact, and hence equipped with a normalized Haar measure. Let be a countable Hilbertian field and let be a positive integer. Then for almost all -tuples , the fixed field of the subgroup generated by the automorphisms is PAC. Here the phrase "almost all" means "all but a set of measure zero".[5] (This result is a consequence of Hilbert's irreducibility theorem.)
- Let K be the maximal totally real Galois extension of the rational numbers and i the square root of −1. Then K(i) is PAC.
Properties
edit- The Brauer group of a PAC field is trivial,[6] as any Severi–Brauer variety has a rational point.[7]
- The absolute Galois group of a PAC field is a projective profinite group; equivalently, it has cohomological dimension at most 1.[7]
- A PAC field of characteristic zero is C1.[8]
References
edit- Fried, Michael D.; Jarden, Moshe (2008). Field arithmetic. Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete. 3. Folge. Vol. 11 (3rd revised ed.). Springer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-540-77269-9. Zbl 1145.12001.