I have been wondering about something for a while now, and the simplest incarnation of it is the following question: Find a finite group that is not a subgroup of any $GL_2(q)$ …

The definitions of a divisible group that I have seen all seem to assume abelian is an a priori property of the group. My question is as to whether or not it is known that--given a …

Let $K$ be the field of Puiseux series with coefficients in $\overline{\mathbb{F}}_p$ (the algebraic closure of the field with $p$ elements). What is the absolute Galois group of $ …

I'm asking this not because I have an idea how one might approach it, but because it seems natural and inherently interesting. Let $K$ be a number field, $G_K$ its absolute Galois …

Galois groups are nice compact Hausdorff groups, and therefore possess a bounded Haar measure, unique if we insist that the total volume be $1$. What is the Haar measure on the abs …

Fix an algebraic closure, $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$ for the rationals and consider the set, $B_p$, of all places of $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$ over a fixed (possibly infinite) prime, $p …

I have heard people say that a major goal of number theory is to understand the absolute Galois group of the rational numbers G = Gal(Q bar/Q). What do people mean when they say th …

There was an observation that any algebraic curve over Q can be rationally mapped to P^1 without three points and this led Grothendieck to define a special class of these mappings, …

Let $G=Gal(\bar{\mathbf{Q}}/\mathbf{Q})$ be the absolute Galois group over $\mathbf{Q}$. Q1: Is it possible to find a (necessarily non-closed) normal subgroup $K\leq G$ such that …

If $K$ is an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p>0$, then $K((t))$, the field of Laurent series with coefficients in $K$, has infinitely many Galois extensions of degre …

I am neither number theorist nor algebraic geometer. I am wondering whether Galois groups of number fields (say the absolute Galois group $Gal(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q})$) a …

What does $\mathrm{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}_{p}/\mathbb{Q})$ mean? ($p$ is a prime number.) If it is defined as $\mathrm{Aut}(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}_{p}/\mathbb{Q})$, then does …

(of course not, it's usually uncountable; I really mean is it the profinite completion of a finitely presented group). By definition, $\pi_1^{\operatorname{et}}(\operatorname{Spec …

The absolute Galois group $G_{\mathbb Q}=\text{Gal}(\bar{\mathbb Q}/\mathbb Q)$, as a profinite group, encodes a lot of things: the whole lattice of number fields (closed subgroups …

Usually when people talk on the absolute Galois group Gℚ of ℚ they have in mind two elements they can describe explicitly, namely the identity and complex conjugation ( …