Number of primes in a number field lying above $p$

algebraic-number-theorynumber theory

Let $L = \mathbb{Q}(a)$ be a finite extension of $\mathbb{Q}$ and let $B$ be the integral closure of $\mathbb{Z}$ in $L$.
Let $p$ be a prime number.
Let $f \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ be the minimal polynomial of $a$ and let
$$\bar f = \bar g_1^{e_1} \cdots \bar g_r^{e_r} \in \mathbb{F}_p[x] $$
be the factorization of the reduction of $f$ modulo $p$.
If $p$ is relatively prime to the conductor of $\mathbb{Z}[a]$, we have
$$ pB = \mathfrak{q_1}^{e_1} \cdots \mathfrak{q_r}^{e_r} $$
by Dedekind-Kummer theorem.
If the hypothesis is not satisfied, do we have exactly $r$ primes of $B$ lying over $p$ ?

Best Answer

No. For instance, if you consider $ a = \sqrt{-7} $ in $ \mathbf Q(\sqrt{-7}) $, then since $ x^2 + 7 \equiv (x+1)^2 \pmod{2} $, your claim suggests that there is only a single prime lying over $ 2 $; but the actual ring of integers is given by $ \mathbf Z[\alpha] $ where $ \alpha $ is a root of $ x^2 - x + 2 $, which splits as $ x(x+1) $ modulo $ 2 $, so there are in fact two primes lying over $ 2 $, not $ 1 $.

Related Question