On \(p\)-adic \(L\)-functions and \(\mathbb{Z}_p\)-extensions of certain real abelian number fields (Q1283143)

Let \(k\) be a number field and \(p\) a prime number. Let \(k _n\) be the \(n\)-th layer of the cyclotomic \({\mathbb Z} _p\)-extension \(k _\infty /k\) and \(A _n\) the \(p\)-Sylow subgroup of the ideal class group of \(k _n\). A fundamental theorem of Iwasawa establishes that there exist integers \(\lambda = \lambda _p (k) \geq 0\), \(\mu = \mu _p (k) \geq 0\) and \(\gamma = \gamma _p (k)\) depending only on \(k\) and \(p\) such that \(|A _n|= p ^{\lambda n + \mu p ^n + \gamma}\) for sufficiently large \(n\). When \(k\) is a totally real number field, \textit{R. Greenberg} [Am. J. Math. 98, 263-284 (1976; Zbl 0334.12013)] conjectured that \(\lambda _p (k) = 0\) and \(\mu _p (k) = 0\). For \(\mu _p (k)\) this is known if \(k\) is an abelian number field but not yet for \(\lambda _p (k)\) even if \(k\) is a real quadratic field. \textit{H. Ichimura} and \textit{H. Sumida} showed that \(\lambda _3 \left( {\mathbb Q} (\sqrt m\right) = 0 \) for all positive integers \(m < 1000\) [Tohoku Math. J. (2) 49, 203-215 (1997; Zbl 0886.11060); Int. J. Math.7, 721-744 (1996; Zbl 0881.11075)]. The author considers a totally real abelian number field \(k\) with Galois group \(\Delta = \text{Gal}(k/{\mathbb Q})\) of order relatively prime to \(p\). Let \(\Psi\) be a \({\mathbb Q} _p\)-valued irreducible character of \(\Delta\) defined over \({\mathbb Q} _p\). Since \(A _n\) is a natural \({\mathbb Z} _p [\Delta] [[\Gamma]]\)-module where \(\Gamma = \text{Gal} (k _\infty/k)\) one can define its \(\Psi\)-component \(A _n ^\Psi\). The main result of this paper establishes that \(\left|(A _n ^\Psi) ^\Gamma \right|= p ^{v _p (L _p (1, \Psi))}\) for sufficiently large \(n\), where \(L(s, \Psi) = \prod _\psi L _p (s, \psi)\) is the \(p\)-adic \(L\)-function associated to \(\Psi\). As a consequence of this result and the \(\Psi\)-version of Greenberg's theorem on Iwasawa invariants, it is obtained that if \(p\) splits completely in \(k\), then for any non-trivial irreducible \({\mathbb Q} _p\)-character \(\Psi\) of \(\Gamma\), if \(v _p (L _p (1, \Psi)) = 0\) then \(\lambda _p (k) _\Psi = 0\). It is also noted that if \(\zeta _p ^\ast (s, k) = \prod _{\Psi \neq 1} L _p (s, \Psi)\), then \(|A _n ^\Gamma|= p ^{v _p (\zeta _p ^\ast (1, k))}\) for sufficiently large \(n\).