Sunday 19 August 2018

abstract algebra - $p^{th}$ roots of a field with characteristic $p$



This is problem 10.9 from the book "Error-Correcting Codes and Finite Fields by Oliver Pretzel".



The Question:




Show that in a field of characteristic $p$, any element $\alpha$ has at most one $p$-th root $\beta$ (i.e., an element $\beta\in F$ with $\beta^p = \alpha$). Show further that if $F$ is finite, then every element has exactly one $p$-th root





This my attempt at the second part of the question.
From Fermat's little theorem $\beta^{{p^n}-1} = 1$, where $p^n$ is the size of the field. Now multiplying both sides by $\beta$ we get $\beta^{p^n} = \beta$.
If there is $p$ elements then $n=1$ and we can see this is true for any non-zero element.
For the general case, take the $p$-th root of both sides $\beta^{p^{n-1}} = \beta^{1/p}$ and we know from the multiplicative properties of a field if $\beta$ is a non zero element of the field then any multiple will be.



The first part of the question I'm not sure where to begin.
Any help would be appreciated.


Answer




We are looking for a root of $x^p-\alpha$; the formal derivative of this polynomial is zero, which means that $x^p-\alpha$ has repeated roots.



Indeed, if $K$ is an extension of $F$ where the polynomial has a root $\beta$, we have
$$
(x-\beta)^p=x^p-\beta^p=x^p-\alpha
$$
which shows the root is unique.



For a finite field $F$, the map
$$

\alpha\mapsto\alpha^p
$$
is a field homomorphism, so it is injective. Finiteness yields surjectivity.


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