An introduction to Eisenstein measures (Q2073993)

In an effort to prove Fermat's Last Theorem for exponents divisible by a prime number \(p\), Kummer proved that if \(k\) and \(k'\) are positive even integers not divisible by \(p-1\), then for all positive integers \(d\), \[ (1-p^{k-1})\zeta(1-k)\equiv(1-p^{k'-1})\zeta(1-k')\bmod p^{d}, \] where \(k\equiv k'\bmod\phi(p^{d})\), with \(\phi\) denoting Euler's totient function [\textit{E. E. Kummer}, J. Reine Angew. Math. 41, 368--372 (1851; ERAM 041.1136cj)]. As part of his investigations, Kummer had shown that the regularity is equivalent to a condition on the values of the Riemann zeta function. A prime \(p\) is regular if does not divide the class number of the cyclotomic field \(\mathbb Q(\zeta_{p})\) with \(\zeta_{p}\in C^\times\) a primitive \(p\)-th root of unity. Even though Hensel introduced the \(p\)-adic numbers soon after Kummer's death, Kummer's discovery topic was nearly dormant for a century [\textit{K. Hensel}, J. Reine Angew. Math. 128, 1--32 (1904; JFM 35.0227.01)]. The first formulation of a \(p\)-adic zeta function occurred only in the 1960s, as a result of work of \textit{T. Kubota} and \textit{H. W. Leopoldt} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 214/215, 328--339 (1964; Zbl 0186.09103)]. In the 1960s, Iwasawa linked the behavior of Galois modules over towers of cyclotomic fields to \(p\)-adic zeta-functions, forming the foundations of Iwasawa theory, a \(p\)-adic theory for studying families of arithmetic data [\textit{K. Iwasawa}, Ann. Math. (2) 89, 198--205 (1969; Zbl 0186.09201)]. The main conjecture of Iwasawa theory, proved in [\textit{B. Mazur} and \textit{A. Wiles}, Invent. Math. 76, 179--330 (1984; Zbl 0545.12005)] shows that the \(p\)-adic \(L\)-function controls substantial structural information about the collection of class groups. The author of the paper under review presents two questions: Question 1. Given an \(L\)-function whose values at certain points are known to be algebraic, how might we construct a \(p\)-adic \(L\)-function encoding congruences between values of version of that \(L\)-function? Question 2. How might we construct \(p\)-adic families of Eisenstein series or, more specifically, \(p\)-adic Eisenstein measures? As the author of the paper under review says in the paper ``The main goal of this paper is to introduce particular tools, Eisenstein measures, which have proved to be especially useful for constructing \(p\)-adic \(L\)-functions during the past half-century, at least under certain conditions.'' His motivation is the work of Jean Piere Serre who produced the first \(p\)-adic families of Eisenstein series (the first instances of Eisenstein measures, which arose as part of his development of the theory of \(p\)-adic modular forms) and used them (together with Iwasawa's construction of the \(p\)-adic zeta function as an element of an Iwasawa algebra) to construct \(p\)-adic Dedekind zeta functions associated to totally real number fields [\textit{J.-P. Serre}, Lect. Notes Math. 350, 191--268 (1973; Zbl 0277.12014)]. The paper is very well written and is an excellent work. It is very good source for interested researchers in the field.