Infinitesimal group schemes as iterative differential Galois groups

This article is concerned with Galois theory for iterative differential fields (ID-fields) in positive characteristic. More precisely, we consider purely inseparable Picard-Vessiot extensions, because these are the ones having an infinitesimal group scheme as iterative differential Galois group. In this article we prove a necessary and sufficient condition to decide whether an infinitesimal group scheme occurs as Galois group scheme of a Picard-Vessiot extension over a given ID-field or not. In particular, this solves the inverse ID-Galois problem for infinitesimal group schemes. Furthermore, this gives a tool to tell whether all purely inseparable ID-extensions are in fact Picard-Vessiot extensions. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.