Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / ii / Paper 2 / 18H / a / Solution

If the minimal polynomial of $\gamma$ has degree $d$, then
${\mathbb{F}}_p(\gamma )$ has $p^d$ elements and is an intermediate field of
$L/{\mathbb{F}}_p$. The tower law for field extensions givesso $d\mid n$.

The multiplicative group of a finite field is cyclic. Choose a generator
$\gamma$ of $L^{\times }$, of order $p^n-1$. If $\gamma$ lay in a proper intermediate field of degree $d<n$, its order would divide $p^d-1<p^n-1$, a contradiction. Thus
${\mathbb{F}}_p(\gamma )=L$ and its minimal polynomial has degree $n$.

For arbitrary $r\ge 1$, let $E$ be the splitting field of
$X^{p^r}-X$ over ${\mathbb{F}}_p$. Its roots form a field: the Frobenius endomorphism shows they are closed under addition, subtraction, multiplication, and inversion. The derivative is $-1$, so there are exactly $p^r$ distinct roots. Thus this root field has order $p^r$. Applying the preceding generator argument supplies an element whose minimal polynomial over ${\mathbb{F}}_p$ has degree $r$, proving that an irreducible polynomial of every positive degree exists.

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.