Class number and factorization in quadratic number fields

Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to number theory (11-02) Quadratic extensions (11R11) Units and factorization (11R27) Class numbers, class groups, discriminants (11R29)

Review text

This is a most readable account of work done on the class number of quadratic fields and the corresponding factorizations, from Gauss to the present. More than half of the 24 pages are taken up by a very useful bibliography. Before finishing the paper, the author had already learned about \textit{H. M. Stark}'s proof that there is no tenth imaginary quadratic field of class number one, and mentions it parenthetically in the text; the paper itself, however [Mich. Math. J. 14, 1--27 (1967; Zbl 0148.27802)], had not yet appeared and, hence, is not listed in the bibliography. Besides an introduction, where the terminology is established and Carlitz's characterization of algebraic number fields with class number \(h\leq 2\) is quoted, the text consists of 4 parts. In Part 1, the class number \(h\) is discussed, with emphasis on conditions under which \(h=1\). The statements of classical results of Gauss, Dirichlet and Kummer are followed by a large number of others concerning \(h\) and culminate with Stark's above mentioned result and the Shafarevich-Golod theorem concerning the infinite class field tower. Part 2 deals with properties of the class group. Gauss' classical result that the number of even invariants of the class group is one less than the number of distinct prime divisors of the discriminant (which is actually quoted in Part 1) is followed by similar ones due to Rédei and Reichardt, concerning invariants divisible by powers of 2. Many other authors, papers and results are quoted, including some on regular discriminants (i.e. with cyclic class group). For various conjectures the reader is directed to \textit{I. R. Shafarevich}'s report to the International Congress of Mathematicians (Stockholm, 1962) [Proc. Int. Congr. Math. 1962, 163--176 (1963; Zbl 0126.06902)] and Part 2 ends with the following open question: If the discriminant is a prime, is the number of generators of the class group bounded? Part 3 discusses Euclidean fields, mainly the quadratic case, where definite results are known. The few known facts, concerning cubic, quartic, quintic and cyclic fields (due mainly to Davenport, Heilbronn, Clarke and Godwin) are also mentioned. In Part 4 several other topics are discussed, such as congruence properties of \(h\), in relation to the fundamental unit (if \(d=p\equiv 1\pmod 4\)), to Bernoulli numbers (if \(-d=p\equiv 7\pmod 8\)) and to generalized Bernoulli numbers. Then follow questions of factorization, to which the author himself has made substantial contributions. If \(G(x)\) is the number of integers \(\leq x\) in a quadratic number field, with all factorizations of the same length and if \(F(x)\) counts similarly the integers \(\leq x\) with unique factorization, then the author has proven that \[ F(x)\sim C_1x(\log\log x)^M(\log x)^{(1-h)/2h}, \] \[ G(x)\sim C_2x(\log\log x)^N (\log x)^(1+g-h)/2h, \] where \(g=\) number of even invariants of the class group, \(M\) and \(N\) are constants depending on the class group only (if this is cyclic, \(M= [\log h/\log 2]\) and \(N= -\tfrac14 (3 - (-1)^h)h - 1)\). Several other of the author's results on factorization are quoted, as well as some unsolved problems, such as the following: In a quadratic field with \(h\neq 1\), are there always infinitely many pairs of consecutive integers with unique factorization? Throughout the paper, out of the very large number of results quoted, the author distinguishes twelve, which he numbers consecutively and sets in italics. While all are significant, it is not clear to this reviewer what criterion has been used in the selection of these 12 theorems. (In the first line on p. 176, the words ``totally quadratic real fields should be replaced by ``totally real quartic fields; also, in the enumeration of the corresponding Euclidean fields, that of discriminant \(d=2225\) seems to have been inadvertently omitted.)

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