In mathematics, Galois theory, originally introduced by Évariste Galois, provides a connection between field theory and group theory. This connection, the fundamental theorem of Galois theory, allows reducing certain problems in field theory to group theory, which makes them simpler and easier to understand. Galois introduced the subject for studying roots of polynomials.
In mathematics, particularly abstract algebra, an algebraic closure of a field K is an algebraic extension of K that is algebraically closed. It is one of many closures in mathematics. Using Zorn's lemma or the weaker ultrafilter lemma, it can be shown that every field has an algebraic closure, and that the algebraic closure of a field K is unique up to an isomorphism that fixes every member of K. Because of this essential uniqueness, we often speak of the algebraic closure of K, rather than an algebraic closure of K.
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 polynomials that give rise to them via Galois groups is called Galois theory, so named in honor of Évariste Galois who first discovered them. For a more elementary discussion of Galois groups in terms of permutation groups, see the article on Galois theory.
In mathematics, differential Galois theory studies the Galois groups of differential equations. Whereas algebraic Galois theory studies extensions of algebraic fields, differential Galois theory studies extensions of differential fields, i.e. fields that are equipped with a derivation, D. Much of the theory of differential Galois theory is parallel to algebraic Galois theory. One difference between the two constructions is that the Galois groups in differential Galois theory tend to be matrix Lie groups, as compared with the finite groups often encountered in algebraic Galois theory.
In mathematics, an algebraic extension is a field extension L/K such that every element of the larger field L is algebraic over the smaller field K; that is, every element of L is a root of a non-zero polynomial with coefficients in K. A field extension that is not algebraic, is said to be transcendental, and must contain transcendental elements, that is, elements that are not algebraic. The algebraic extensions of the field of the rational numbers are called algebraic number fields and are the main objects of study of algebraic number theory.
