Chevalley-Weil theorem and subgroups of class groups (Q1659553)

For a fixed abelian group \(G\) and a number field \(K\), it is conjectured that \(K\) has infinitely many extensions, say \(L\), of fixed degree \(d\) so that the class group of \(L\), denoted \(\mathrm{Cl}(L)\), contains an isomorphic copy of the group \(G\). In fact, various particular cases of the conjecture have been verified, e.g., the case where \(K=\mathbb{Q}\) and \(G\) is cyclic or bicyclic is due to \textit{T. Azuhata} and \textit{H. Ichimura} [J. Fac. Sci., Univ. Tokyo, Sect. I A 30, 579--585 (1984; Zbl 0532.12006)], the case where \(K\) is an imaginary quadratic number field and \(G\) is of rank 2 is due to Yamomoto. Given an abelian group \(G\) we define the \textit{\(n\)-rank} of \(G\) as the largest non-negative integer \(r\) so that the group \(G\) contains an isomorphic copy of \(\left(\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}\right)^r\). With this notation, the conjecture is easily seen to be equivalent to the unboundedness of the \(n\)-rank of the group \(\mathrm{Cl}(L)\), when \(L\) runs through degree \(d\) extensions of \(K\). Following the footprints of Chevalley-Weil theorem one can obtain such extensions by considering an algebraic curve \(\mathcal{C}\) defined over the number field \(K\) together with a \(K\)-morphism to \(\mathbb{P}^1\) and invoke Hilbert's irreducibility theorem. The task is then to find independent étale Galois covers of the curve \(\mathcal{C}\) so that the covering group is cyclic of order \(n\). The main result of the article under review gives the existence of infinitely many extensions \(L\) of the number field \(K\) with \([L:K] = d\) so that the \(n\)-rank of \(\mathrm{Cl}(L)\) is bounded from below by \(n\)-rank of \(\mathrm{Cl}(K)\) and a non-negative integer determined by the Jacobian of the curve \(\mathcal{C}\); where \(\mathcal{C}\) is an algebraic curve over \(K\) which is totally ramified over a \(K\)-rational point of \(\mathbb{P}^1\). An absolute version of Chevalley-Weil theorem is also an important part of the article.