On the Dimension of Coinvariants of Permutation Representations

Let be a univariate, separable polynomial of degree n with roots x ₁,…,x _n in some algebraic closure of the ground field . It is a classical problem of Galois theory to find all the relations between the roots. It is known that the ideal of all such relations is generated by polynomials arising from G-invariant polynomials, where G is the Galois group of f(Z). Namely: The action of G on the ordered set of roots induces an action on by permutation of the coordinates and each defines a relation P − P(x ₁,…,x _n ) called a G-invariant relation. These generate the ideal of all relations. In this note we show that the ideal of relations admits an H-basis of G-invariant relations if and only if the algebra of coinvariants has dimension ‖G‖ over . To complete the picture we then show that the coinvariant algebra of a transitive permutation representation of a finite group G has dimension ‖G‖ if and only if G = Σ _n acting via the tautological permutation representation.