Annihilating Ideal #
Given a commutative ring R and an R-algebra A
Every element a : A defines
an ideal polynomial.ann_ideal a ⊆ R[X].
Simply put, this is the set of polynomials p where
the polynomial evaluation p(a) is 0.
Special case where the ground ring is a field #
In the special case that R is a field, we use the notation R = 𝕜.
Here 𝕜[X] is a PID, so there is a polynomial g ∈ polynomial.ann_ideal a
which generates the ideal. We show that if this generator is
chosen to be monic, then it is the minimal polynomial of a,
as defined in field_theory.minpoly.
Special case: endomorphism algebra #
Given an R-module M ([add_comm_group M] [module R M])
there are some common specializations which may be more familiar.
- Example 1:
A = M →ₗ[R] M, the endomorphism algebra of anR-module M. - Example 2:
A = n × nmatrices with entries inR.
ann_ideal R a is the annihilating ideal of all p : R[X] such that p(a) = 0.
The informal notation p(a) stand for polynomial.aeval a p.
Again informally, the annihilating ideal of a is
{ p ∈ R[X] | p(a) = 0 }. This is an ideal in R[X].
The formal definition uses the kernel of the aeval map.
Equations
It is useful to refer to ideal membership sometimes and the annihilation condition other times.
ann_ideal_generator 𝕜 a is the monic generator of ann_ideal 𝕜 a
if one exists, otherwise 0.
Since 𝕜[X] is a principal ideal domain there is a polynomial g such that
span 𝕜 {g} = ann_ideal a. This picks some generator.
We prefer the monic generator of the ideal.
Equations
- polynomial.ann_ideal_generator 𝕜 a = let g : polynomial 𝕜 := submodule.is_principal.generator (polynomial.ann_ideal 𝕜 a) in g * ⇑polynomial.C (g.leading_coeff)⁻¹
ann_ideal_generator 𝕜 a is indeed a generator.
The annihilating ideal generator is a member of the annihilating ideal.
The generator we chose for the annihilating ideal is monic when the ideal is non-zero.
We are working toward showing the generator of the annihilating ideal in the field case is the minimal polynomial. We are going to use a uniqueness theorem of the minimal polynomial.
This is the first condition: it must annihilate the original element a : A.
The generator of the annihilating ideal has minimal degree among the non-zero members of the annihilating ideal
The generator of the annihilating ideal is the minimal polynomial.
If a monic generates the annihilating ideal, it must match our choice of the annihilating ideal generator.