In mathematics, the cyclotomic identity states that
-
1
1
−
k
z
=
∏
j
=
1
∞
(
1
1
−
z
j
)
M
j
(
k
)
{\displaystyle {1 \over 1-kz}=\prod _{j=1}^{\infty }\left({1 \over 1-z^{j}}\right)^{M_{j}(k)}}
where M is Moreau's necklace-counting function,
-
M
n
(
k
)
=
1
n
∑
d
|
n
μ
(
n
d
)
k
d
,
{\displaystyle M_{n}(k)={1 \over n}\sum _{d\,|\,n}\mu \!\left({n \over d}\right)k^{d},}
and μ is the classic Möbius function of number theory.
The name comes from the denominator, 1 − z j, which is the product of cyclotomic polynomials.
The left hand side of the cyclotomic identity is the generating function for the free associative algebra on k generators, and the right hand side is the generating function for the universal enveloping algebra of the free Lie algebra on k generators. The cyclotomic identity witnesses the fact that these two algebras are isomorphic.
Another interpretation is as the Hasse–Weil zeta function of the affine line over the finite field
F
q
{\displaystyle \mathbb {F} _{q}}
with
k
=
q
{\displaystyle k=q}
elements. The exponent
M
n
(
k
)
{\displaystyle M_{n}(k)}
counts the number of number of maximal ideals of degree n in the coordinate ring
F
q
[
x
]
{\displaystyle \mathbb {F} _{q}[x]}
, i.e. the number of monic irreducible polynomials of degree n.
There is also a symmetric generalization of the cyclotomic identity found by Strehl:
-
∏
j
=
1
∞
(
1
1
−
k
z
j
)
M
j
(
ℓ
)
=
∏
j
=
1
∞
(
1
1
−
ℓ
z
j
)
M
j
(
k
)
{\displaystyle \prod _{j=1}^{\infty }\left({1 \over 1-kz^{j}}\right)^{M_{j}(\ell )}=\prod _{j=1}^{\infty }\left({1 \over 1-\ell z^{j}}\right)^{M_{j}(k)}}
References
- Metropolis, N.; Rota, Gian-Carlo (1984), "The cyclotomic identity", in Greene, Curtis (ed.), Combinatorics and algebra (Boulder, Colo., 1983). Proceedings of the AMS-IMS-SIAM joint summer research conference held at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo., June 5–11, 1983., Contemp. Math., vol. 34, Providence, R.I.: American Mathematical Society, pp. 19–27, ISBN 978-0-8218-5029-9, MR 0777692