Last revised 12:55 p.m. October 21, 2018 Newton polygons Bill Casselman University of British Columbia
[email protected] Newton polygons are associated to polynomials with coefficients in a discrete valuation ring, and they give information about the valuations of roots. There are several applications, among them to the structure of Dieudonne´ modules, the ramification of local field extensions, and the desingularization of algebraic curves in P2. As an exception to a common practice of attribution, Newton polygons were originally introduced by Isaac Newton himself, and how he used them is not so different from how they are used now. He wanted to solve polynomial equations f(x, y)=0 for y as a series in fractional powers of x. For example, to solve yn = x we write simply y = x1/n, and 1/n to solve yn =1+ x set y = xk . X0 k Newton sketched the procedure he had come up with in a letter to Oldenburg. It is quite readable (see p. 126 of [Newton:1959] for the original Latin, p. 145 for an English translation). The diagram he exhibits is not essentially different from the ones drawn today. Newton polygons are perfectly and appropriately named—they are non•trivial, and introduced by Newton. This thread became eventually a method related to desingularizing algebraic curves over C (explained in Chaper IV of [Walker:1950]). My original motivation in writing this essay was to understand the theory of crystals, particularly 5 of § Chapter IV of [Demazure:1970]. But since then I have come across other applications.