Maximal prime homomorphic images of mod-p Iwasawa algebras

Abstract

AbstractLet k be a finite field of characteristic p, and G a compact p-adic analytic group. Write kG for the completed group ring of G over k. In this paper, we describe the structure of the ring kG/P, where P is a minimal prime ideal of kG. We give an explicit isomorphism between kG/P and a matrix ring with coefficients in the ring ${(k'G')_\alpha }$ , where $k'/k$ is a finite field extension, $G'$ is a large subquotient of G with no finite normal subgroups, and (–)α is a “twisting” operation that preserves many desirable properties of the ring structure. We demonstrate the usefulness of this isomorphism by studying the correspondence induced between certain ideals of kG and those of ${(k'G')_\alpha }$ , and showing that this preserves many useful “group-theoretic” properties of ideals, in particular almost-faithfulness and control by a closed normal subgroup.