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P-Adic Analysis Compared To Real, Lecture 4 - P. Lengacher, L. Raabe, N. Wider
P-Adic Analysis Compared To Real, Lecture 4 - P. Lengacher, L. Raabe, N. Wider
P-Adic Analysis Compared To Real, Lecture 4 - P. Lengacher, L. Raabe, N. Wider
01.11.2011
Example √ √ √
We want to compute 6 and 7 in Z5 . We start with 6. Let a := a0 +5a1 +52 a2 +... √
∈
Z5 . Then a2 = (a0 + 5a1 + 52 a2 + ...)2 = a20 + 5(2a0 a1 ) + 52 (a11 + 2a0 a2 ) + .... If a = 6,
its square has to be equal to 6: a2 = a20 + 5(2a0 a1 ) + 52 (a11 + 2a0 a2 ) + ... = 6. We can
look at these equations modulo 5k and get:
a20 = 6 mod 5
a20 + 5(2a0 a1 ) = 6 mod 52
a20 + 5(2a0 a1 ) + 52 (a11 + 2a0 a2 ) = 6 mod 53
...
Then we get a0 = 1 or 4 mod 5. Let's choose 1 (4 would lead to another square root
of 6 in Z5 ). Then we get a1 = 3 and a2 =
√. We could go on and compute the innitely
many ai and get the 5-adic expansion of 6, but the principle should be clear so I stop
here.
√
Let's have a look at 7 in Z5 . With the same algorithm as above, we get:
a20 = 7 mod 5
a20 + 5(2a0 a1 ) = 7 mod 52
a20 + 5(2a0 a1 ) + 52 (a11 + 2a0 a2 ) = 7 mod 53
...
But the rst equation does not have√a solution as every square is either 1 or -1 modulo
5. So we don't get any solution and 7 ∈/ Z5 .
A general statement of this is Hensel's Lemma.
Theorem 1.39 (Hensel's Lemma)
Let F (x) = c0 + c1 x + ... + cn xn be a polynomial with coecients ci ∈ Zp . Let F 0 (x) =
c1 + 2c2 x + ... + ncn xn−1 be its derivative. Suppose a0 ∈ Zp satises F (a0 ) = 0 mod p
and F 0 (a0 ) 6= 0 mod p. Then there exists a unique p-adic integer a ∈ Zp such that
F (a) = 0 and a = a0 mod p.
1
Proof. We will inductively construct a p-adic integer ak = b0 + b1 p + ... + bk pk that
satises the conditions F (ak ) = 0 mod pk+1 and ak = a0 mod p. To satisfy the second
condition we choose b0 = a0 mod p. Then for any k ≥ 1, ak = a0 mod p. The rst
condition is satised as well: F (a0 ) = F (b0 ) = F (a0 ) = 0 mod p0+1=1
Assume we already found b0 , ..., bk−1 . Then we have to uniquely compute bk . We know
that ak = ak−1 + bk pk , so we have
F (ak ) = F (ak−1 + bk pk )
Xn
= ci (ak−1 + bk pk )i
i=0
n
X
= c0 + ci (ak−1 + bk pk )i
i=1
n
bk pk + somethingpk+1 )
X
i−1
= c0 + ci (aik−1 + iak−1
i=1
n
X n
X
= c0 + ci aik−1 + ici ai−1
k−1 bk p
k
mod p
i=1 i=1
= F (ak−1 ) + bk pk F 0 (ak−1 )
mod p. Since ak−1 = a0 mod p and F 0 (a0 ) 6= 0 mod p, also F 0 (ak−1 ) 6= 0 mod p and
we can divide by F 0 (ak−1 ).
⇒ bk = − F 0 (a k−1)pk mod p.
F (a )
k−1
Now let a := limi→∞ aki for a convergent subsequence (aki )i of (ak )k . Then a is the root
of F we were looking for.
Theorem 1.42
A polynomial F with integer coecients has a root in Zp ⇔ it has an integer root
mod pk for any k ≥ 1.
2
Proof. ⇒: Assume a has no square root mod p. By theorem ?? it cannot have a square
root in Zp .
⇐:Let a20 = a mod p the square root mod p. Then for P (x) = x2 −a we have P (a0 ) = 0
mod p and P 0 (a0 ) = 2a0 6= 0 mod p. So by Hensel's Lemma a has a square root in Zp
(the root of P ).
As we have seen so far the p-adic integers Zp are quite dierent from the ordinary integers
Z. But nevertheless the algebraic properties are similar in each cases. Before we start
we recall the set of p-adic integers:
(∞ )
X
i
Zp = ai p |ai ∈ {0, . . . , p − 1}
i=0
We also call the index m of the rst nonzero coecient the order (of vanishing) of f at
a.
3
Dene ν = ν(a) = ordp (a) and ω = ν(b) = ordp (b) to be the order of a respectively b.
So aν and bω are the rst nonzero coecients of a and b with 0 < aν , bω < p. Then the
product of a and b looks like the following:
a · b = aν bω pν+ω + (aν+1 bω + aν bω+1 )pν+ω+1 + . . .
Hence by the denition of multiplication the rst nonzero coecient of the product is
cν+ω .
0 < cν+ω < p, cν+ω ≡ aν bω mod p
This implies that ab can not be equal to zero unless a or b is equal to zero, therefore Zp
contains no zero divisors.
The calculation in the preceding proof gives rise to a Corollary.
Corollary
The order ν : Zp → N ∪ {∞} satises
ν(ab) = ν(a) + ν(b),
ν(a + b) ≥ min(ν(a), ν(b))
4
Proof. First we remark that if a p-adic integer a is invertible then so must be its reduction
(a) in Fp . Therefore we have a rst inclusion
X
Z×
p ⊂ ai p i
|a 0 6
= 0
i≥0
Conversely we need to show that a p-adic integer a with order ν(a) = 0 is invertible.
Then the P reduction (a) ∈ Fp is not zero and therefore invertible in this eld. So for
given a = i≥0 ai pi we choose 0 < b0 < p such that a0 b0 ≡ 1 mod p. Then we can write
a0 b0 = 1 + kp. From a = a0 + pα we can follow
a · b0 = 1 + kp + pαb0 = 1 + tp
for some p-adic integer t. If the p-adic integer 1 + tp is invertible then a is invertible
because we can write
a · b0 (1 + tp)−1 = 1, a−1 = b0 (1 + tp)−1
Hence it is enough to look at the case where a0 = 1 and a = 1 + tp. The p-adic expansion
gives us
(1 + tp)−1 = 1 − tp + (tp)2 − · · · = 1 + c1 p + c2 p2 + · · · with ci ∈ {0, 1, . . . , p − 1}
The second equality is a reformulation which can be achieved by applying the rules of
multiplication for p-adic integers. Therefore (1 + tp) is invertible and so is a. Hence we
get the desired result.
pZp = Zp \Z×
p
Proof. It only remains to proof that it is a unique maximal ideal. Therefore suppose I
is a maximal ideal of Zp . Because pZp is also a maximal ideal, the ideal I has to contain
an element from its complement, say a ∈ Z× p . Because I is an ideal 1 = a · a
−1 ∈ I and
therefore I = Zp .
In Z the maximal ideals are mZ for m prime. The previous corollary also corresponds
to a partition Zp = Z×
p t pZp . In fact we even have
G
Zp \{0} = pk Z×
p
k≥0
5
Corollary 1.46
Every nonzero p-adic integer a ∈ Zp has canonical representation a = pν u, where ν =
ν(a) is the p-adic order of a and u ∈ Z×
p is a p-adic unit.
Proof. Consider the p-adic integer a = i≥ν ai pi with ν = ν(a) the order of a. Then we
P
can write X X X
a= ai pi = pν ai pi−ν = pν bj pj = pν u
i≥ν i≥ν j≥0
Corollary 1.47
The rational integer a ∈ Z that are invertible in Zp are the integers coprime to p. The
quotients of integers m/n ∈ Q with n 6= 0 that are p-adic integers are those that have a
denominator n coprime to p.
Proof. First we make the following observation. For any p-adic integer a = and p.
P
i≥0
X X X
p· ai p i = ai pi+1 = bj pj = v
i≥0 i≥0 j≥1
with bi = ai−1 . And v will never going to be a unit or even 1. Therefore p is not
invertible in Zp . Of course the same holds for all power or multiple of p. Now by the
previous corollary we have Z×p = Zp \pZp and therefore exactly the integers coprime to p
are invertible. Each integer m ∈ Z is also a p-adic integer. Now by the rst part exactly
the n coprime to p are invertible in Zp . And therefore m · n1 = mn is a p-adic integer if
and only if n is coprime to p.
Indeed, for any a 6= 0 with order ν(a) = k we get a ∈/ pk+1 . Even more we can state
6
Proof. We start with a nonzero ideal I of Zp . Furthermore let 0 6= a ∈ I be an element
of minimal order k = ν(a) < ∞. (This is possible because the order only takes a discrete
set of values). We can write a = pk u for some unit u ∈ Z×
p . Hence p = u a ∈ I and
k −1
pk = pk Zp ⊂ I . This gives the rst inclusion. Conversely, for any b ∈ I , with order
ω = ν(b) ≥ k we can write
b = pω v = pk · pω−k v ∈ pk Zp
for v ∈ Z×
p an appropriate unit. Hence I ⊂ p Z. Therefore for any ideal I of Zp we get
k
I = p Zp for some k ∈ N.
k
Finally Zp gives rise to the same algebraic structure as Z which is itself also an principal
ideal domain
Proposition 1.47
For p ∈ N prime and m ∈ N coprime to p. There exists a primitive mth root of unity in
Qp if and only if m|p − 1.Moreover if m|(p − 1) every mth root of unity is also a (p − 1)
root of unity. The set of (p−1)th roots of unity is a cyclic subgroup of Z×
p of order (p−1).
Remark
The pth root cannot be handled by means of Hensel's Lemma, since if f (x) = xp − 1 then
f 0 (x) = pxp−1 − 1 which is 0 for every x.
Remark
Let us show that the elds Qp and Qq , for q 6= p prime, are not isomorphic.
7
Proof. Let us choose an m ∈ N such that m|p − 1 and m - q − 1. By the proposition ??
there is a mth root of unity in Qp . If there would exist such an isomorphism it would
send the mth roots of unity form one eld into the other. Since there are no mth roots
of unitiy in Qq , Qq and Qp cannot be isomorphic.
Remark
When p is odd, p − 1 is even and −1 belongs the a cyclic subgroup of order p − 1. The
number −1 will have a square root in Qp precisley when (p − 1)/2 is still even, namley
when p ≡ 1 mod 4. We have that
√
−1 ∈ Qp ⇔ 4|p − 1 ⇔ p≡1 mod 4
√
A number i = −1 can thus be found in Q5 , Q13 , ...
The (p − 1)th roots of unity are related to the signumfunction sgnp (x) introduced in the
next theorem.
Theorem 1.48
For any x ∈ Zp the limit lim xp exists. This limit is denoted by sgnp (x)and has the
n
n→∞
following properties:
1. sgnp (x) depends only on the rst digit x0 in the canonical p-adic expansion of x.
2. sgnp (xy) = sgnp (x) · sgnp (y).
3. sgnp (x) = 0 if x0 = 0, and it is a (p − 1)th root of unity if x 6= 0.
n
Proof. Let x0 ∈ {1, 2, . . . , p − 1}. First we show that the sequence {xp0 } converges. By
Euler's Theorem,
ϕ(pn )
{x0 }≡1 mod pn ,
where ϕ us Euler's ϕ-function: for a positive integer m, ϕ(m) is equal to the number
of integers smaller than m and coprime to m. Observe that since p is a prime, we have
ϕ(pn ) = pn − pn−1 . Thus,
n −pn−1 n n−1
xp0 ≡1 mod pn , xp0 ≡ x0p mod pn ,
and hence
n n−1 1
|xp0 − x0p |p ≤ .
pn
n
Since 1/pn → 0 as n → ∞, the sequence {xp0 } is Cauchy, and by the completeness of
Zp , it converges to a limit in Zp , which we denote by
n
sgnp (x0 ) = lim xp0
n→∞
The limit obviously exists for x0 = 0, so sgnp (x) is dened for x0 ∈ {1, 2, . . . , p − 1}, and
sgnp (0) = 0.
Next we show that the limit exists for all x ∈ Zp and is dened by the rst digit x0 of x.
For this we will need the following lemma.
8
Lemma 1.49
Suppose x ∈ Zp with the rst digit x0 . Then we have |xp − xp0 |p ≤ p−1 |x − x0 |p .
Proof. Let x = x0 + α, with |α|p ≤ p−1 - Then xp − xp0 = (x − x0 ) · f (x, α), where f (x, α)
is a polynomial. Since every factor | pj xp−j αj−1 |p ≤ p−1 for j ≥ 1, by the strong triangle
which implies that lim xp exists and is equal to the limit of x0 . Thus we have dened
n
n→∞
sgnp (x0 ) for all x ∈ Zp , and property (??) of the proposition is satised. Property (??)
follows form the multiplicative property of limits.
It remains to show that if x0 ∈ {1, 2, . . . , p − 1}, then sgnp (x0 ) is a (p − 1)th root of unity.
Using property (??) and Fermat's Little theorem, we obtain
p−1
sgnp−1
p (x0 ) = sgnp (x0 ) = sgnp (1) = 1.
The values of sgnp (x0 ) are thus solutions of the equation y p − y = 0. Since Qp is a eld,
this equation cannot have more than p solutions in Qp , and hence in Zp . Consequently,
the only solutions of this equation are the values o the signum function.
Suppose we want to nd a root of a polynomial in Q. Evidently if there are roots in Q,
then there are roots in R and in all Qp . Hence we can certainly conclude that there are
no rational roots if there is some p ≤ ∞ for which there are no p-adic roots. A converse
statement would be more interesting, but is it true? If polynomial has p-adic roots for
all p including ∞, does it follow that is has a rational root? Here is a simple example
when such a converse statement holds.
Proposition 1.51
A number x ∈ Q is a square if and only if it is a square in every Qp , p ≤ ∞.
Proof. For any x ∈ Q× we have
Y
x=± pordp (x) .
p<∞
Notice that x is a square in R if and only if it is positive. In Qp we can write x = pordp (x) u,
where u ∈ Zp . Then x is a square in Qp if and only if ordp (x) is even and u = v 2 for
some unit v ∈ Z× p . If we write out the factorization, we see that x is a square in Q if and
only if it is a square in each Qp .
This manifestation of the so-called Local-to-Global Principle, which asserts that the exis-
tence or nonexistence of solutions in Q (global solutions) of a Diophantine equation can
be detected by studying, for each p ≤ ∞, the solutions in Qp (local solutions). Unfortu-
nately, this principle is not universal, but it holds in some important cases, for instance
for quadratic forms in severals variables.
9
Example √
Let us show that 2 is irrational. Consider the polynomial x2 − 2 = 0. The goal is to
show that it has no sloution
√ in Q5 . With the local-to-global principle it follows that it
has no solution in Q i.e. 2 is irrational. The solution is a 5-adic integer i.e. |2|5 = 1.
Let α be a solution and
|α2 |5 = |α|5 |α|5 = 1.
Therefore |α|5 = 1 and it has to hold that α2 ≡ 2 mod 5k for k > 0. Now let a0 to be
the rst coecient of the 5-adic expansion. We need that
a20 ≡ 2 mod 5
10