Skip to main content
2 of 4
added 10 characters in body
Hugo Chapdelaine
  • 7.6k
  • 2
  • 28
  • 70

This is not an answer to my question but it is just a summary of the relevant results which have been mentioned so far about positive solvability.

So here is a useful result:

Theorem Let $K/F$ be a finite Galois extension and let $M/F$ be a radical extension. Assume that you have an embedding $\iota:K\hookrightarrow M$. Then if $[K:F]$ is odd there exists a root of unity of odd order inside $M$.

A proof of this result may be found for example in Brian Conrad's note: radical tower and roots of unity.

We thus have the following corollary

Corollary Let $f(x)\in\mathbf{Q}[x]$ be a polynomial which has all its roots in $\mathbf{R}$. Let $K$ be the (abstract) splitting field of $f(x)$ and assume that $[K:\mathbf{Q}]$ is odd. Then $K$ cannot be embedded in a radical extension contained in $\mathbf{R}$. In particular, $f(x)$ is not positive solvable.

Hugo Chapdelaine
  • 7.6k
  • 2
  • 28
  • 70