On the relative Galois module structure of rings of integers in tame extensions (Q1755541)

Let \(F\) be a number field with ring of integers \(\mathcal{O}_{F}\) and let \(G\) be a finite group. If \(F_{\pi}/F\) is a tame Galois \(G\)-algebra extension of \(F\), then the ring of integers \(\mathcal{O}_{\pi}\) of \(F_{\pi}\) is a locally free module of rank \(1\) over the group ring \(\mathcal{O}_{F}[G]\), and thus it determines a class \((\mathcal{O}_{\pi})\) in the locally free class group \(\mathrm{Cl}(\mathcal{O}_{F}[G])\). The set \(\mathcal{R}(\mathcal{O}_{F}[G])\) of realisable classes is defined to be the subset of \(\mathrm{Cl}(\mathcal{O}_{F}[G])\) consisting of the classes \((\mathcal{O}_{\pi})\) as \(F_{\pi}\) runs through all tame Galois \(G\)-algebra extensions of \(F\). It is a conjecture that \(\mathcal{R}(\mathcal{O}_{F}[G])\) is in fact a subgroup of \(\mathrm{Cl}(\mathcal{O}_{F}[G])\). This has been proven by the second author in the case that \(G\) is abelian [J. Reine Angew. Math. 375/376, 259--306 (1987; Zbl 0619.12008)]. Moreover, several articles have proven the conjecture for certain non-abelian groups \(G\). The article under review takes a new approach to this problem by combining methods introduced by McCulloh with techniques involving relative algebraic \(K\)-theory and categorical twisted forms introduced by the first author and \textit{D. Burns} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 92, No. 1, 1--28 (2006; Zbl 1198.11086)]. The introduction gives a helpful overview of the main results and the ideas involved in the proofs. There the authors formulate `Conjecture B', which describes the image of a certain map to the relative algebraic \(K\)-group \(K_{0}(\mathcal{O}_{F}[G],F^{c})\), where \(F^{c}\) is an algebraic closure of \(F\). This conjecture is shown to imply that \(\mathcal{R}(\mathcal{O}_{F}[G])\) is a subgroup of \(\mathrm{Cl}(\mathcal{O}_{F}[G])\), and is shown to hold in the case that \(G\) is abelian. The authors then obtain the following result (`Theorem E'): Suppose that \(|G|\) is both odd and coprime to the class number of \(F\), and that \(F\) contains no nontrivial \(|G|\)th roots of unity. Then \(\mathcal{R}(\mathcal{O}_{F}[G])\) is a subgroup of \(\mathrm{Cl}(\mathcal{O}_{F}[G])\). Moreover, given a finite set of places \(S\) of \(F\) and an element \(c \in \mathcal{R}(\mathcal{O}_{F}[G])\), there exist infinitely many tame Galois \(G\)-algebra extensions \(F_{\pi}/F\) such that \(F_{\pi}\) is a field, \((\mathcal{O}_{\pi})=c\) and \(F_{\pi}/F\) is unramified at the elements of \(S\). This result may be viewed as a partial analogue in the setting of Galois module theory of a classical theorem of \textit{I. R. Shafarevich} on the inverse Galois problem for soluble groups [Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Mat. 18, 525--578 (1954; Zbl 0057.27401)]. Since publication, an error in the proof of `Theorem E' has come to light. A note correcting this error has been posted on Agboola's website; the main results of the article are unaffected.