On a conjecture of Brumer (Q2639912)

In a series of papers, Iwasawa proposed and studied analogues for algebraic number fields \(F\) of constructions due to Weil for curves over finite fields. In particular he conjectured an analogue of Weil's theorem relating the zeta function of a nonsingular curve over a finite field with the characteristic polynomial of its Frobenius automorphism. Iwasawa's conjecture was proved for \(F= \) the rationals by \textit{B. Mazur} and the author in 1984 [Invent. Math. 76, 179--330 (1984; Zbl 0545.12005)]. In 1990 [ibid. 131, No. 3, 493--540 (1990; Zbl 0719.11071)] the author proved Iwasawa's conjecture for an arbitrary totally real field and in this paper he uses this to recover a version of Brumer's conjecture connected with a classical theorem of Stickelberger. The key part of this paper is the development of a technique introduced in the author's 1990 paper of adjoining an auxiliary variable to the \(p\)-adic \(L\)-functions.