I'm just wondering if the following theorem is reasonable and whether the proof is makes sense or not? Also I have an application of it which I was trying to do earlier but I made a lot of mistakes so I would be very grateful if anyone would give some comments on this in case I have some very strong misunderstandings about Galois theory.
Theorem Let $E_1$ and $E_2$ be Galois field extensions of $F$ with trivial intersection ($E_1 \cap E_2 = F$), then $E_1 E_2$ has Galois group $\text{Gal}(E_1/F) \times \text{Gal}(E_2/F)$.
Proof
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$E_1$ and $E_2$ are splitting fields (over $F$) of some polynomials $f_1$ and $f_2$ so $E_1 E_2$ is the splitting field of $f_1 f_2$ over $F$ and therefore it is Galois and we are justified using the "Gal" notation.
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Let $\sigma_1 \in \text{Gal}(E_1/F)$ and $\sigma_2 \in \text{Gal}(E_2/F)$ then by the fundamental theorem of Galois theory we can lift these both into elements of $\text{Gal}(E_1 E_2/F)$. The claim is that $\sigma_1 \sigma_2 = \sigma_2 \sigma_1$, to see this consider an element $\alpha \in E_1$, we have both $\sigma_2 \alpha = \alpha$ and $\sigma_2 \sigma_1 \alpha = \sigma_1 \alpha$ because it is invariant with respect to $\sigma_2$, but we can combine these equalities to get $\sigma_1 \sigma_2 \alpha = \sigma_2 \sigma_1 \alpha$.
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Both groups $\text{Gal}(E_i/F)$ ($i = 1,2$) are included in $\text{Gal}(E_1 E_2/F)$ and the degrees say there are no more elements, furthermore since they commute we can conclude $\text{Gal}(E_1 E_2/F) = \text{Gal}(E_1/F) \times \text{Gal}(E_2/F)$.
So hopefully that theorem is, if not correct, fixable.. and can be used to prove that $\mathbb Q (\sqrt{a_1},\sqrt{a_2},\cdots,\sqrt{a_n})$ has Galois group $C_2^m$ ($m \le n$) over $\mathbb Q$?
Best Answer
Yes, your theorem and its proof are correct. This is Theorem 1.14 in Chapter 6 of Lang's Algebra.
Your application to $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{a_1},\ldots,\sqrt{a_n})$ is also correct - by applying Theorem 1.14 repeatedly, one gets that $\text{Gal}(\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{a_1},\ldots,\sqrt{a_n})/\mathbb{Q})$ injects into $\prod_{i=1}^n\text{Gal}(\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{a_i})/\mathbb{Q})\cong C_2^n$.