Conjugacy classes of series in positive characteristic and Witt vectors (Q1032642)

Let \(k\) be an algebraic closure of the finite field \(\mathbb{F}_p\), and \(K=k((t))\) the field of formal Laurent series over \(k\). In this context, Oort's conjecture states that every cyclic field extension \(L|K\) of finite degree should lift smoothly to mixed characteristic. Note that a choice of uniformizer \(s\in L\) yields the isomorphism \(L\cong k((s))\), and then a finite-order continuous \(k\)-automorphism of \(L\) corresponds to a power series \(\sigma(s)\in k[[s]]\) having finite order for the composition law. Hence, Oort's conjecture can be reformulated as the statement that every invertible power series of order \(n\) for the composition law in \(k[[s]]\) can be lifted to a series of order \(n\) for the composition law in \(R[[S]]\), where \(R\) is a mixed characteristic discrete valuation ring with residue field \(k\). Oort's conjecture is known to hold for all tamely-ramified extensions, so the essential case is that of totally ramified cyclic extensions of degree \(p^m\). The case \(m=1\) was established using global methods by \textit{T. Sekiguchi, F. Oort}, and \textit{N. Suwa} in [``On the deformation of Artin-Schreier to Kummer'', Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 22, No. 3, 345--375 (1989; Zbl 0714.14024)], and the \(m=1,2\) cases were obtained via local methods in [\textit{B. Green} and \textit{M. Matignon}, ``Lifting Galois covers of smooth curves'', Compos. Math. 113, 237--272 (1998; Zbl 0923.14006)]. Recently, A. Obus and S. Wewers have announced a proof of the \(m=3\) case: [{A. Obus}, ``The (local) lifting problem for curves'', \texttt{arXiv:1105.1530}]. In order to establish the conjecture in general, it suffices to lift a single representative from each conjugacy class of series of order \(p^m\) in \(k[[s]]\). The present paper contributes to this area by providing (Theorem 5.6) an explicit bijection between the set \(\mathcal{Y}_m\) of conjugacy classes of series of order \(p^m\) and the orbits of a certain group action on a particular set of Witt vectors \(\mathcal{A}_m\subset W_m(K)\). Using Artin-Schreier-Witt theory and work of Kanesaka-Sekiguchi, the author shows that the subset \(\mathcal{A}_m\) is in bijection with the set of \(p^m\)-cyclic totally ramified extensions of \(K\) (with a chosen generator of the Galois group). Moreover, these bijections preserve the ramification data, which can be read off from the Witt vectors in \(\mathcal{A}_m\). Hence, the main result provides an explicit description in terms of Witt vectors (including the ramification breaks) of the series of order \(p^m\) that must be lifted in order to establish Oort's conjecture.