cmi-entrance 2022 Q17
10 marks
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For a ring homomorphism $R \longrightarrow S$ (of commutative rings) and an ideal $I$ of $R$, the fibre over $I$ is the ring $S / I S$, i.e., the quotient of $S$ by the $S$-ideal generated by the image of $I$ in $S$. Let $S = \mathbb { C } [ X , Y ] / ( X Y - 1 )$ and $R = \mathbb { C } [ x + \alpha y ]$ where $\alpha \in \mathbb { C }$ and $x , y$ are the images of $X , Y$ in $S$. Consider the ring homomorphism $R \subseteq S$. Let $I = ( x + \alpha y - \beta ) R$, where $\beta \in \mathbb { C }$. For each nonnegative integer $n$, determine the set of ( $\alpha , \beta$ ) such that the fibre over $I$ has exactly $n$ maximal ideals.