The absolute Galois group of subfields of the field of totally \(S\)-adic numbers (Q449609)

The absolute Galois group \(\mathrm{Gal}(K)\) of a global field \(K\) is a very complicated object whose structure seems to be unattainable at present. For example, the inverse problem of Galois theory, i.e. the question whether every finite group \(G\) admits a continuous epimorphism \(\mathrm{Gal}(\mathbb Q)\to G\), is far from being settled. The structure of the Galois group is much better understood, however, for certain other families of fields, e.g. for function fields over algebraically closed fields, for local fields or for certain infinite algebraic extensions of the global field \(K\) of ``semi-local'' type. These fields of ``semilocal type'' arise as follows: Let \(S\) be a finite set of primes of \(K\). For \(\mathfrak p\in S\) let \(\hat{K}_{\mathfrak p}\) be the completion of \(K\) at \(\mathfrak p\) and define \(K_{\mathfrak p}=K_s\cap \hat{K}_{\mathfrak p}\) where \(K_s\) stands for the separable closure of \(K\). The field \[ K_{\mathrm{tot}, S}=\bigcap_{\mathfrak p\in S} \bigcap_{\rho\in {\mathrm{Gal}}(K)} K_{\mathfrak p}^\rho \] is called the field of totally \(S\)-adic numbers. Generalizing former work of Fried, Haran and Völklein, in a spectacular paper [Ann. Math. (2) 144, No. 1, 1--34 (1996; Zbl 0862.12003)], \textit{F. Pop} determined the Galois group \(\mathrm{Gal}(K_{\mathrm{tot}, S})\) up to isomorphism: It is a free product over certain local Galois groups of the form \(\mathrm{Gal}(K_{\mathfrak p}^\rho)\) (\(\mathfrak p\in S\), \(\rho\in\mathrm{Gal}(K)\)). Another (earlier) spectacular development in Field Arithmetic concerns infinite algebraic extensions of \(K\) of the following form. For \(\sigma=(\sigma_1, \cdots, \sigma_e)\in {\mathrm{Gal}}(K)^e\) let \(K_s(\sigma)\) be the fixed field of \(\sigma_1, \cdots, \sigma_e\) in \(K_s\) and let \(K_s[\sigma]\) be the maximal Galois extension of \(K\) in \(K_s(\sigma)\). It has been proved in works of \textit{J. Ax} [Ann. Math. (2) 85, 161--183 (1967; Zbl 0239.10032)] and of \textit{M. Jarden} [Math. Z. 224, No. 4, 555--565 (1997; Zbl 0873.12001)] that for almost all (in the sense of Haar measure) \(\sigma\in {\mathrm{Gal}}(K)^e\) the profinite group \(\mathrm{Gal}(K_s(\sigma))\) (resp. \(\mathrm{Gal}(K_s[\sigma])\)) is isomorphic to the free profinite group \(\hat{F}_e\) on \(e\) generators (resp. to the free profinite group \(\hat{F}_\omega\) on countably many generators). The impressive main result of the paper under review combines these results into a single theorem about the absolute Galois groups of the fields \(K_{\mathrm{tot}, S}(\sigma):=K_{\mathrm{tot}, S}\cap K_s(\sigma)\) and \(K_{\mathrm{tot}, S}[\sigma]:=K_{\mathrm{tot}, S}\cap K_s[\sigma]\): For almost all \(\sigma\in \mathrm{Gal}(K)^e\) the profinite group \(\mathrm{Gal}(K_{\mathrm{tot}, S}(\sigma))\) (resp. the profinite group \(\mathrm{Gal}(K_{\mathrm{tot}, S}[\sigma])\)) is a free product of \(\hat{F}_e\) (resp. of \(\hat{F}_\omega\)) with a free product of certain local Galois groups of the form \(\mathrm{Gal}(K_{\mathfrak p}^\rho)\) (\(\mathfrak p\in S\), \(\rho\in\mathrm{Gal}(K)\)). This can be viewed as the ultimate result in the series of developments sketched above.