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Theory of Numbers - Lecture 12

This document discusses cyclotomic polynomials and primes congruent to 1 mod n. It begins by defining cyclotomic polynomials as the polynomials whose roots are the primitive nth roots of unity. It then provides examples of computing cyclotomic polynomials. The document proves several properties of cyclotomic polynomials, including that they have integer coefficients and are reciprocal. It concludes by using cyclotomic polynomials to prove that there are infinitely many primes congruent to 1 mod n.

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ANDHIKA NUGROHO
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77 views4 pages

Theory of Numbers - Lecture 12

This document discusses cyclotomic polynomials and primes congruent to 1 mod n. It begins by defining cyclotomic polynomials as the polynomials whose roots are the primitive nth roots of unity. It then provides examples of computing cyclotomic polynomials. The document proves several properties of cyclotomic polynomials, including that they have integer coefficients and are reciprocal. It concludes by using cyclotomic polynomials to prove that there are infinitely many primes congruent to 1 mod n.

Uploaded by

ANDHIKA NUGROHO
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture 12

Cyclotomic Polynomials, Primes Congruent to 1 mod n

Cyclotomic Polynomials - just as we have primitive roots mod p, we can have


primitive nth roots of unity in the complex numbers. Recall that there are n
distinct nth roots of unity - ie., solutions of z n = 1, in the complex numbers. We
can write them as e2⇡ij/n for j = 0, 1, . . . n 1. They form a regular n-gon on
the unit circle.

We say that z is a primitive nth root of unity if z d 6= 1 for any d smaller than n.
If we write z = e2⇡ij/n , this is equivalent to saying (j, n) = 1. So there are (n)
primitive nth roots of unity.

Eg. 4th roots of 1 are solutions of z 4 1 = 0, or (z 1)(z + 1)(z 2 + 1) = 0 )


z = 1, 1 ± i

Now 1 is a primitive first root of unity, 1 is a primitive second root of unity, and
±i are primtiive fourth roots of unity. Notice that ±i are roots of the polynomial
z 2 + 1. In general, define
Y
n (x) = (x e2⇡ij/n )
(j,n)=1
1jn

This is the nth cyclotomic polynomial.

We’ll prove soon that n (x) is a polynomial with integer coefficients. Another
fact is that it is irreducible, ie., cannot be factored into polynomials of smaller
degree with integer coefficients (we won’t prove this, however).

Anyway, here is how to compute n (x): take xn 1 and factor it. Remove all
factors which divide xd 1 for some d|n and less than n.

Eg. 6 (x). Start with x6 1 = (x3 1)(x3 + 1). Throw out x3 1 since 3|6 and
3 < 6. x3 + 1 = (x + 1)(x2 x + 1). Throw out x + 1 which divides x2 1, since
2|6, 2 < 6. We’re left with x2 x + 1 and it must be 6 (x) since it has the right
degree 2 = '(6) (the nth cyclotomic polynomial has degree '(n), by definition).

If you write down the first few cyclotomic polynomials you’ll notice that the
coefficient seems to be 0 or ±1. But in fact, 105 (x) has 2 as a coefficient, and
the coefficients can be arbitrarily large if n is large enough.

These polynomials are very interesting and useful in number theory. For in-
stance, we’re going to use them to prove that given any n, there are infinitely
many primes congruent to 1 mod n.

Eg. 4 (x) = x2 + 1 and the proof for primes ⌘ 1 mod 4 used (2p1 . . . pn )2 + 1

1
Q
Proposition 45. 1. xn 1= n (x)

2. n (x) has integer coefficients

3. For n 2, n (x) is reciprocal; ie., 1


n( x ) · x'(n) = n (x) (ie., coefficients are
palindromic)

Proof. 1. is easy - we have


Y
xn 1= (x e2⇡ij/n )
1jn
0 0
If (j, n) = d then e2⇡ij/n = e2⇡ij /n where j 0 = dj , n0 = nd , and (j 0 , n0 ) = 1.
0 0
(x e2⇡ij /n ) is one of the factors of n0 (x) and n0 |n. Looking at all possible j,
we recover all the factors of n0 (x), for every n0 dividing n, exactly once. So
Y
xn 1 = n0 (x)
n0 |n

2. By induction. 1 (x) =x 1. Suppose true for n < m. Then


0 1
Y BY C
xm 1= d (x) = B C
d (x)A · m (x)
@
d|m d|m
d<m
| {z }
monic (by defn), integer
coefficients (by ind. hypothesis)

So m (x), obtained by dividing a polynomial with integer coefficients, by a


monic polynomial with integer coefficients, also has integer coefficients. This
completes the induction.

3. By induction. True for n = 2, since 2 (x) = x + 1.


✓ ◆ ✓ ◆
1 '(2) 1
2 x = + 1 x=x+1= 2 (x)
x x
Suppose true for n < m. If we plug in 1
x into
Y
xm 1 = d (x)
d|m
✓ ◆m Y ✓ ◆
1 1
1= d
x x
d|m
0 1
✓ ◆ ✓ ◆ ✓ ◆
B Y 1 C 1 1
=B
@
C· · 1
x A
d m
x x
1<d<m
d|m

2
P Q
Multiply by xm = xd |m '(d) = d|m x'(d) - proved before - to get
0 1
✓ ◆ ✓ ◆ ✓ ◆
B Y 1 C 1 1
1 x m
=B
@ d x'(d) C
A· m x '(m)
· 1 x
x x x
1<d<m
d|m
0 1
✓ ◆
B Y C 1
(x m
1) = B
@ d (x)
C· x'(m) · (1 x)
| {z } A
m
x
1<d<m
d|m by ind hyp
0 1
Y ✓ ◆
B Y C 1
B
d (x) = @
C
d (x)A · m x'(m) · ( 1 (x))
x
d|m 1<d<m
d|m

Cancelling almost all the factors we get


✓ ◆
1
m (x) = m x'(m)
x

completing the induction. ⌅

Lemma 46. Let p - n and m|n be a proper divisor of n (ie., m 6= n). Then n (x) and
xm 1 cannot have a common root mod p.

Proof. By contradiction. Suppose a is a common root mod p. Then am ⌘ 1


mod p forces (a, p) = 1. Next,
Y Y
xn 1 = d (x) = n (x) d (x)
d|n d|n
d<n
Q
Notice that xm 1 = d|n d (x) has all its factors in the last product. So this
shows xn 1 has a double root at a, ie., (xn 1) ⌘ (x a)2 f (x) mod p for some
f (x). Then the derivative must also vanish at a mod p, so nan 1 ⌘ 0 mod p.

But p - n and p - a, a contradiction. ( ) ⌅

Now, we’re ready to prove the main theorem.

Theorem 47. Let n be a positive integer. There are infinitely many primes congruent
to 1 mod n.

3
Proof. Suppose not, and let p1 , p2 , . . . pN be all the primes congruent to 1 mod n.
Choose some large number l and let M = n (lnp1 . . . pN ). Since n (x) is monic,
if l is large enough, M will be > 1 and so divisible by some prime p.

First, note that p cannot equal pi for any i, since n (x) has constant term 1, and
so pi divides every term except the last of n (lnp1 . . . pn ) ) it doesn’t divide
M . For the same reason we have p - n. In fact, (p, a) = 1 where a = lnp1 . . . pN .

Now n (a) ⌘ 0 mod p by definition, which means an ⌘ 1 mod p. By the


lemma, we cannot have am ⌘ 1 mod p for any m|n, m < n. So the order of a
mod p is exactly n, which means that n|p 1 since ap 1 ⌘ 1 mod p ) p ⌘ 1
mod n, exhibiting another prime which is ⌘ 1 mod n. Contradiction. ( ) ⌅

Note - we did not even need to assume that there’s a single prime ⌘ 1 mod n;
if N = q take the empty product, ie., 1, and we end up looking at n (ln) for
large l.

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