Paper 4, Section II, 18 F18 \mathrm{~F}

Galois Theory
Part II, 2019

State (without proof) a result concerning uniqueness of splitting fields of a polynomial.

Given a polynomial fQ[X]f \in \mathbb{Q}[X] with distinct roots, what is meant by its Galois group GalQ(f)\operatorname{Gal}_{\mathbb{Q}}(f) ? Show that ff is irreducible over Q\mathbb{Q} if and only if GalQ(f)\mathrm{Gal}_{\mathbb{Q}}(f) acts transitively on the roots of ff.

Now consider an irreducible quartic of the form g(X)=X4+bX2+cQ[X]g(X)=X^{4}+b X^{2}+c \in \mathbb{Q}[X]. If αC\alpha \in \mathbb{C} denotes a root of gg, show that the splitting field KCK \subset \mathbb{C} is Q(α,c)\mathbb{Q}(\alpha, \sqrt{c}). Give an explicit description of Gal(K/Q)\operatorname{Gal}(K / \mathbb{Q}) in the cases:

(i) cQ(α)\sqrt{c} \in \mathbb{Q}(\alpha), and

(ii) cQ(α)\sqrt{c} \notin \mathbb{Q}(\alpha).

If cc is a square in Q\mathbb{Q}, deduce that GalQ(g)C2×C2\operatorname{Gal}_{\mathbb{Q}}(g) \cong C_{2} \times C_{2}. Conversely, if Gal Q(g)_{\mathbb{Q}}(g) \cong C2×C2C_{2} \times C_{2}, show that c\sqrt{c} is invariant under at least two elements of order two in the Galois group, and deduce that cc is a square in Q\mathbb{Q}.