Exercise 11.21

In Exercise 6 we considered the equation x 0 3 + x 1 3 + x 2 3 = 0 over the field with four elements. Consider the same equation over the field with two elements. The trouble here is that 2 ≢ 1 ( mod 3 ) and so our usual calculations do not work. Prove that in every extension of ℤ ∕ 2 ℤ of odd degree every element is a cube and that every extension of even degree, 3 divides the order of the multiplicative group. Use this information to calculate the zeta function over ℤ ∕ 2 ℤ . [Answer: ( 1 + 2 u 2 ) ∕ ( 1 − u ) ( 1 − 2 u ) .]

Answers

Proof. Consider the extension 𝔽 2 s of degree s over 𝔽 2 . ∙ If s = 2 k + 1 is odd, then 2 s − 1 = 2 2 k + 1 − 1 ≡ 1 ( mod 3 ) , thus d = ( 2 s − 1 ) ∧ 3 = 1 . An element a ∈ 𝔽 2 s ∗ is a cube if and only if a ( 2 s − 1 ) ∕ d = 1 , that is a 2 s − 1 = 1 , which is true for all elements a ∈ 𝔽 2 s ∗ (and 0 = 0 3 ). So every element is a cube. The number of solutions of a 3 = 1 is N ( a 3 = 1 ) = d = 1 , thus every element of 𝔽 2 s is the cube of a unique element. ∙ If s = 2 k is even, then 2 s − 1 = 2 2 k − 1 ≡ 0 ( mod 3 ) , thus d = ( 2 s − 1 ) ∧ 3 = 3 . So 3 ∣ 2 s − 1 = | 𝔽 2 s ∗ | . Therefore there exists a character χ s of order 3 in 𝔽 2 s .

We can now compute N s . ∙ If s = 2 k + 1 is odd, in the field 𝔽 2 s ,

N ( x 0 3 + x 1 3 + x 2 3 = 0 ) = ∑ a + b + c = 0 N ( x 0 3 = a ) N ( x 1 3 = b ) N ( x 2 3 = c ) = ∑ a + b + c = 0 1 = 2 2 s .

Thus the number of projective points of H ¯ f ( 𝔽 2 s ) is

N s = 2 2 s − 1 2 s − 1 = 2 s + 1 ( s  odd ) .

(Alternatively, we can compute the number of affine points, which is N ( y 0 3 + y 1 3 = − 1 ) = N ( a + b = − 1 ) = 2 s , and add a unique point [ 0 , − 1 , 1 ] at infinity, since a 3 = − 1 has exactly one solution − 1 . We obtain anew N s = 2 s + 1 .) ∙ If s = 2 k is even, in the field 𝔽 2 s ,

N ( x 0 3 + x 1 3 + x 2 3 = 0 ) = ∑ a + b + c = 0 N ( x 0 3 = a ) N ( x 1 3 = b ) N ( x 2 3 = c ) = ∑ a + b + c = 0 ∑ i = 0 2 χ s i ( a ) ∑ j = 0 2 χ s j ( b ) ∑ k = 0 2 χ s k ( c ) = ∑ ( i , j , k ) ∈ [[ 0 , 2 ]] 3 ∑ a + b + c = 0 χ s i ( a ) χ s j ( b ) χ s k ( c ) = ∑ ( i , j , k ) ∈ [[ 0 , 2 ]] 3 J 0 ( χ s i , χ s j , χ s k ) .

Using the generalization of Proposition 8.5.1, with J 0 ( 𝜀 , 𝜀 , 𝜀 ) = 2 2 s , we obtain

N ( x 0 3 + x 1 3 + x 2 3 = 0 ) = 2 2 s + ∑ ( i , j , k ) ∈ A J 0 ( χ s i , χ s j , χ s k ) ,

where A is the set of ( i , j , k ) ∈ { 1 , 2 } 3 such that i + j + k ≡ 0 ( mod 3 ) , that is ( 1 , 1 , 1 ) and ( 2 , 2 , 2 ) . Thus

N = N ( x 0 3 + x 1 3 + x 2 3 = 0 ) = 2 2 s + J 0 ( χ s , χ s , χ s ) + J 0 ( χ s 2 , χ s 2 , χ s 2 ) .

Thus the number of projective points is

N s = N − 1 2 s − 1 = 2 s + 1 + 1 2 s − 1 ( J 0 ( χ s , χ s , χ s ) + J 0 ( χ s 2 , χ s 2 , χ s 2 ) ) .

Moreover, the same Proposition 8.5.2 gives, using χ s ( − 1 ) = χ s ( 1 ) = 1 ,

J 0 ( χ s , χ s , χ s ) = ( 2 s − 1 ) J ( χ s , χ s ) = ( 2 s − 1 ) g ( χ s ) 2 g ( χ s 2 ) = ( 2 s − 1 ) g ( χ s ) 3 g ( χ s ) g ( χ s − 1 ) = ( 2 s − 1 ) g ( χ s ) 3 2 s .

This gives

1 2 s − 1 J 0 ( χ s , χ s , χ s ) = 1 2 s g ( χ s ) 3 .

(This is also formula (2) in Theorem 2 of Chapter 10). This is the same for χ s 2 , thus

N s = 2 s + 1 + 1 2 s ( g ( χ s ) 3 + g ( χ s 2 ) 3 ) .

We choose a character χ of order 3 on 𝔽 4 = 𝔽 2 2 , given by

t 0 1 a a 2 χ ( t ) 0 1 ω ω 2

where a is a generator of 𝔽 4 . We can take χ s = χ ∘ N 𝔽 2 s ∕ 𝔽 2 2 (this makes sense since 2 ∣ s , so that 𝔽 2 2 is a subfield of 𝔽 2 s = 𝔽 2 2 k ).

Since 𝔽 2 s is an extension of degree s ∕ 2 of 𝔽 4 , the Hasse-Davenport relation shows that

g ( χ s ) = − ( − g ( χ ) ) s ∕ 2 .

The computations of g ( χ ) and g ( χ 2 ) are given in Exercise 6. We obtained

g ( χ ) = g ( χ 2 ) = 2 .

Then

N s = 2 s + 1 − 2 ( − 2 ) s 2 .

These two results can be written under the form

{ N 2 k + 1 = 2 2 k + 1 + 1 ( k ≥ 0 ) , N 2 k = 2 2 k + 1 − 2 ( − 2 ) k ( k ≥ 1 ) .

We can compute Z f ( u ) .

ln ⁡ ( Z f ( u ) ) = ∑ k = 1 ∞ N 2 k u 2 k 2 k + ∑ k = 0 ∞ N 2 k + 1 u 2 k + 1 2 k + 1 = ∑ k = 1 ∞ ( 2 2 k + 1 − 2 ( − 2 ) k ) u 2 k 2 k + ∑ k = 0 ∞ ( 2 2 k + 1 + 1 ) u 2 k + 1 2 k + 1 = ( ∑ k = 1 ∞ 2 2 k u 2 k 2 k + ∑ k = 0 ∞ 2 2 k + 1 u 2 k + 1 2 k + 1 ) + ( ∑ k = 1 ∞ u 2 k 2 k + ∑ k = 0 ∞ u 2 k + 1 2 k + 1 ) − 2 ∑ k = 1 ∞ ( − 2 ) k u 2 k 2 k = ∑ l = 1 ∞ 2 l u l l + ∑ l = 1 ∞ u l l − ∑ k = 1 ∞ ( − 2 u 2 ) k k = − ln ⁡ ( 1 − 2 u ) − ln ⁡ ( 1 − u ) + ln ⁡ ( 1 + 2 u 2 ) .

Therefore

Z f ( u ) = 1 + 2 u 2 ( 1 − u ) ( 1 − 2 u ) .

□

Note: Using Exercise 20, we obtain anew the result of Exercise 6. Here s = 2 , and ρ = e 2 πi ∕ s = e iπ = − 1 . This gives

Z f ( 2 ) ( u 2 ) = Z f ( u ) Z f ( − u ) = 1 + 2 u 2 ( 1 − u ) ( 1 − 4 u ) 1 + 2 u 2 ( 1 + u ) ( 1 + 4 u ) = ( 1 + 2 u 2 ) 2 ( 1 − u 2 ) ( 1 − 4 u 2 ) .

Therefore the function zeta of f ( x 0 , x 1 , x 2 ) = x 0 3 + x 1 3 + x 2 3 with base field 𝔽 4 is

Z f ( 2 ) ( u ) = ( 1 + 2 u ) 2 ( 1 − u ) ( 1 − 4 u ) .

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2022-07-19 00:00
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