abstract algebra In mathematics, more specifically algebra, abstract algebra or modern algebra is the study of algebraic structures, which are set (mathematics), sets with specific operation (mathematics), operations acting on their elements. Algebraic structur ...

, an abelian extension is a Galois extension whose

Galois group In mathematics, in the area of abstract algebra known as Galois theory, the Galois group of a certain type of field extension is a specific group associated with the field extension. The study of field extensions and their relationship to the pol ...

is abelian. When the Galois group is also cyclic, the extension is also called a cyclic extension. Going in the other direction, a Galois extension is called solvable if its Galois group is solvable, i.e., if the group can be decomposed into a series of normal extensions of an abelian group. Every finite extension of a

finite field In mathematics, a finite field or Galois field (so-named in honor of Évariste Galois) is a field (mathematics), field that contains a finite number of Element (mathematics), elements. As with any field, a finite field is a Set (mathematics), s ...

is a cyclic extension.

Description

Class field theory provides detailed information about the abelian extensions of number fields, function fields of

algebraic curve In mathematics, an affine algebraic plane curve is the zero set of a polynomial in two variables. A projective algebraic plane curve is the zero set in a projective plane of a homogeneous polynomial in three variables. An affine algebraic plane cu ...

s over finite fields, and local fields. There are two slightly different definitions of the term cyclotomic extension. It can mean either an extension formed by adjoining roots of unity to a field, or a subextension of such an extension. The cyclotomic fields are examples. A cyclotomic extension, under either definition, is always abelian. If a field ''K'' contains a primitive ''n''-th root of unity and the ''n''-th root of an element of ''K'' is adjoined, the resulting Kummer extension is an abelian extension (if ''K'' has characteristic ''p'' we should say that ''p'' doesn't divide ''n'', since otherwise this can fail even to be a separable extension). In general, however, the Galois groups of ''n''-th roots of elements operate both on the ''n''-th roots and on the roots of unity, giving a non-abelian Galois group as semi-direct product. The Kummer theory gives a complete description of the abelian extension case, and the Kronecker–Weber theorem tells us that if ''K'' is the field of

rational number In mathematics, a rational number is a number that can be expressed as the quotient or fraction of two integers, a numerator and a non-zero denominator . For example, is a rational number, as is every integer (for example, The set of all ...

s, an extension is abelian if and only if it is a subfield of a field obtained by adjoining a root of unity. There is an important analogy with the fundamental group in

topology Topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of a Mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformat ...

, which classifies all covering spaces of a space: abelian covers are classified by its abelianisation which relates directly to the first homology group.

References

* *{{MathWorld , id=AbelianExtension , title=Abelian Extension Field extensions Algebraic number theory Class field theory