Large sieve methods in algebraic number fields (Q1076717)

Several mathematicians have established multidimensional versions of the large sieve procedure for use in algebraic number fields. The most important advances were made by Wilson, Huxley and Schaal. Our intent here is to complement these expositions by giving simple derivations of Gallagher's character sum form as well as of Montgomery's arithmetic formulation of the large sieve in the language of an algebraic number field. In our approach the basic inequality for exponential sums is proved in a character sum form involving proper additive characters. Now it is possible to extend to number fields the important Bombieri-Vinogradov theorem on the average distribution of primes in arithmetic progressions. We may return to this problem in a future paper.