Quotient of the Galois group of a splitting field generated by two roots

abstract-algebragalois-theorygroup-theorysylow-theory

Let $f \in \mathbb{Q}[x]$ be irreducible of degree $p$, where $p$ is a prime. Let $K$ be the splitting field of $f$ and suppose that there are roots $\alpha$ and $\beta$ of $f$ such that $K = \mathbb{Q}(\alpha,\beta)$. We regard the Galois group $G = G(K/\mathbb{Q})$ as a subgroup of the symmetric group $S_p$. It is not hard to show that $p$ divides the order of $G$ and $G$ contains a $p$-cycle $\sigma$. Let $H$ the group generated by $\sigma$, one can use Sylow's third theorem to argue that $H$ is normal in $G$. Now, I'd like to show that $G/H$ is a cyclic group of order diving $p-1$. I'm trying to use results from cyclic extension but it is required that the base field contains the $n$-th roots of unity, which is not true in this case. Any help would be appreciated.

Best Answer

Let $N$ and $C$ be the normalizer and centralizer of $H$ in $S_p$, respectively. Then $G$ is a subgroup of $N$ since $H$ is normal in $G$. Therefore we can establish your result by showing $N/H$ is a cyclic group whose order divides $p-1$.

Since $H$ is cyclic of order $p$, it follows that $C = H$ and that $\text{Aut}(H)$ is cyclic of order $p-1$. The result now follows since $N/C$ is isomorphic to a subgroup of $\text{Aut}(H)$, which is a general property of normalizers and centralizers.