TITLE: A question regarding normal field extensions and Galois groups
QUESTION [11 upvotes]: The following is possibly true but I can't find a corresponding theorem:
If $E/F$ is the splitting field of some polynomial in $F$ and $F \subset K \subset E$ then:
$Gal(E/K)$ normal subgroup of $Gal(E/F)$  $\Leftrightarrow$ $K/F$ is a normal field extension
Is this true? I think saying that $E/F$ is the splitting field of some polynomial in $F$ is the same as saying $E/F$ is Galois and therefore the Galois correspondence theorem applies. But I'm not sure I see how the meaning of normality of a subgroup relates to the meaning of normality of a field extension. But maybe the above is wrong altogether?
In any case, many thanks for your help to clarify this.

REPLY [5 votes]: It is not true in general that saying that $E$ is a splitting field over $F$ implies that the extension is Galois: the missing ingredient is separability. The implication holds for characteristic zero and in more generality for perfect fields, but not always. For an example, take $F=\mathbb{F}_p(x)$, the field of rational functions over the field of $p$ elements, and let $E$ be the splitting field over $F$ of $t^p - x$. If $\alpha$ is a root of $t^p-x$ in $E$, then $t^p - x = t^p - \alpha^p = (t-\alpha)^p$ in $E$, since $E$ has characteristic $p$. So $E=F[\alpha]$ is a splitting field of $f(t)=t^p-x$ over $F$. But we also conclude that $\mathrm{Aut}(E/F)$ consists only of the identity (since $\sigma\in\mathrm{Aut}(E/F)$ is completely determined by its value in $\alpha$, but $\alpha$ must map to itself, since it must map to a root of $t^p - x$, and $\alpha$ is the only possibility). However, since $f(t)$ is irreducible over $F$ of degree $p$, then $[E:F]=p$. Hence, $|\mathrm{Aut}(E/F)|\lt[E:F]$, and the extension cannot be a Galois extension.  The reason it fails to be a Galois extension is that the extension is not separable, since it is given by an irreducible polynomial with multiple roots.