CharPol( z )
CharPol( F, z )
In the first form CharPol
returns the coefficients of the characteristic
polynomial of the element z in its default field over its
prime field (see DefaultField). In the second form CharPol
returns
the coefficients of the characteristic
polynomial of the element z in the field F over the subfield
F.field
. The characteristic polynomial is returned as a list of
coefficients, the i-th entry is the coefficient of x^{i-1}.
The characteristic polynomial of an element z in a field F over a subfield S is the frac{[F:S]}{{rm deg } mu}-th power of mu, where mu denotes the minimal polynomial of z in F over S. It is fixed under the Galois group of the normal closure of F. Thus all the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial lie in S. The constant term is (-1)^{F.degree/S.degree}=(-1)^{[F:S]} times the norm of z (see Norm), and the coefficient of the second highest degree term is the negative of the trace of z (see Trace). The roots (including their multiplicities) in F of the characteristic polynomial of z in F are the conjugates (see Conjugates) of z in F.
gap> CharPol( Z(2^6) ); [ Z(2)^0, Z(2)^0, 0*Z(2), Z(2)^0, Z(2)^0, 0*Z(2), Z(2)^0 ] gap> CharPol( GF(2^12), Z(2^6) ); [ Z(2)^0, 0*Z(2), Z(2)^0, 0*Z(2), 0*Z(2), 0*Z(2), Z(2)^0, 0*Z(2), Z(2)^0, 0*Z(2), 0*Z(2), 0*Z(2), Z(2)^0 ] gap> CharPol( GF(2^12)/GF(2^2), Z(2^6) ); [ Z(2^2)^2, 0*Z(2), Z(2)^0, 0*Z(2), Z(2)^0, 0*Z(2), Z(2)^0 ]
The default function FieldOps.CharPol
multiplies the linear factors x - c
with c ranging over the conjugates of z in F (see Conjugates).
For nonabelian extensions, it is overlayed by a function, which computes the
appropriate power of the minimal polynomial.
GAP 3.4.4