A note on the Quillen-Lichtenbaum conjecture and the arithmetic of square rings (Q1283358)

The importance of the Quillen-Lichtenbaum conjecture (and its sister, the Lichtenbaum conjecture) is due to the fact that it allows us to relate the K-theory of an arithmetic variety to the values of its zeta function at integral points. In the past few years there has been some progress toward a solution of the Quillen-Lichtenbaum conjecture, the major achievements being the work of \textit{M. Kolster, T. Nguyen Quang Do} and \textit{V. Fleckinger} [``Twisted \(S\)-units, \(p\)-adic class number formulas, and the Lichtenbaum conjectures'', Duke Math. J. 84, No. 3, 679-717 (1996; Zbl 0863.19003)], who have claimed to have proven a modified version of the Lichtenbaum conjecture for abelian fields. This modification, though, (amounting to introducing certain ``Euler factors'' in the formulation of the conjecture) turned out to be a consequence of a mistake in the proof (pointed out by \textit{H. Gangl} in 1998 and so far seemingly not repaired), and should presumably disappear in the correct formulation of the conjecture (as originally anticipated by Lichtenbaum). The main goal of the paper under review is to present an equivalent formulation of the Quillen-Lichtenbaum conjecture for number fields in terms of the wild kernel: Let \(F\) be a number field (\(O_F\) its ring of integers), \(n\) a nonnegative integer and \(\ell\) an odd prime. Then the wild kernel of \(F\), \(WK_n(F)\) is defined as the kernel of the ``localization map'' \(K_n(F) \to \prod_v K_n(F_v)\) (where \(v\) runs over all finite places of \(F\)). The authors show that for each \(n\geq 0\), \(WK_n(F) \subset K_n(O_F)_{\text{tor}}\), implying that \(WK_n(F)\) is finite. Then, assuming that the maps \(K_{2m}(F_v)_\ell \to K^{\text{ét}}_{2m}(F_v)_\ell\) are isomorphisms for all \(v\) which divide \(\ell\) and for all \(m>0\), they show that the Quillen-Lichtenbaum conjecture for \(F\) is equivalent to the fact that for all \(n>1\), the \(\ell\)-torsion of the wild kernel of \(F\) is equal to the \(\ell\)-torsion of the group of divisible elements of \(K_n(F)\). Furthermore, if \(F\) is the field of rational numbers, then we can even take \(n\geq 0\). Notice that the assumption on the comparison between the \(\ell\)-torsion groups of \(K\)-theory and étale \(K\)-theory has already the flavor of the Quillen-Lichtenbaum conjecture. In the last section, using the description of higher K-groups in terms of \(SK_1\) of square rings, they investigate \(WK_n(F)\) in terms of elementary linear algebra and properties of the square rings over \(F\).