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k should be algebraically closed. Don't wanna get too crazy
Mike Pierce
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When spreading out a scheme, does the choice of max ideal matter?

I'm looking at Serre's paper How to use Finite Fields for Problems Concerning Infinite Fields. Specifically I'm trying to use the techniques in the proof of Theorem 1.2 to write out the details of the proof of Theorem 3.1, but I'll try to ask a more general question.

Here's how I currently understand spreading out a scheme: If you have a scheme $X$ of finite type over an algebraically closed field $k$, you can replace it by a scheme over some finite extension of the prime subring of $k$, either $\mathbf{Z}$ or $\mathbf{Z}/p\mathbf{Z}$. Since $X$ is defined by a finite amount of data (by finitely many polynomials in the case $X$ is a variety) you can simply adjoin this data (the coefficients of the polynomials) to the prime subring of $k$. Call this extension of the prime subring $\Lambda$, and notice that $X$ is still defined over $\Lambda$. You can also adjoin any other finite amount of data from $k$ to the subring too, for example the coefficients of a polynomial map $X \to X$, so it will be preserved when you define $X$ over $\Lambda$. Furthermore you can take a max ideal $\mathfrak{m}$ of $\Lambda$, and $X$ will be defined over the quotient $\Lambda/\mathfrak{m}\,,$ which will be a finite field.

In the proof of Theorem 1.2, I'm troubled that Serre says you can choose any max ideal $\mathfrak{m}$. Does it really not matter which one? The whole idea behind the proof is that if there is a counterexample over $k$ then it will descend to a counterexample over $\Lambda/\mathfrak{m}$, but don't we have to worry about $\mathfrak{m}$ containing too much of the data that we appended in $\Lambda$? Specifically in the proof of Theorem 1.2 in that paper, what if $\mathfrak{m}$ contains all the coefficients of the $Q_{g,i}$'s that we need to say that the action doesn't have a fixed point?

Mike Pierce
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