Central polynomials for matrices over finite fields

Abstract

Let $c(x_1,...,x_d)$ be a multihomogeneous central polynomial for the $n\times n$ matrix algebra $M_n(K)$ over an infinite field $K$ of positive characteristic $p$. We show that there exists a multihomogeneous polynomial $c_0(x_1,...,x_d)$ of the same degree and with coefficients in the prime field $F_p$ which is central for the algebra $M_n(F)$ for any (possibly finite) field $F$ of characteristic $p$. The proof is elementary and uses standard combinatorial techniques only.