On abelian 2-ramification torsion modules of quadratic fields (Q2106838)

A detailed survey of abelian \(p\)-ramification theory and its history was given by \textit{G. Gras} in [``Practice of the incomplete \(p\)-ramification over a number field -- History of abelian \(p\)-ramification'', Comm. Adv. Math. Sci. 2, No. 4, 251--280 (2019)]. For a number field \(F\) and a prime \(p\), the \(\mathbb{Z}_p\)-torsion subgroup \(T_p(F)\) of the Galois group of the maximal abelian pro-\(p\) extension of \(F\) which is unramified outside \(p\) contains substantial information. For instance, when \(F\) is totally real, the order of \(T_p(F)\) is the residue of the \(p\)-adic zeta function of \(F\) up to multiplication by a unit. In Gras's paper (loc. cit.), the \(p\)-rank of \(T_p(f)\) is determined in particular. Akin to the study of class groups, one may hope to study the group \(T_2(F)\) for quadratic fields \(F\) more explicitly compared to the general case. In the paper under review, the authors study the distribution of \(T_2(F)\) when \(F\) varies over a certain family of quadratic fields. For \(i>0\) and a finite abelian \(p\)-group \(A\), if \(\operatorname{rank}_{p^i}(A)\) denotes the \(\mathbb{F}_p\)-dimension of \(p^{i-1}A/p^iA\), then the authors prove a general density formula for the \(4\)-ranks of \(T_2(F)\) when \(F\) runs over imaginary quadratic fields; this is analogous to Gerth's 1984 density result for \(4\)-ranks of (narrow) class groups of quadratic fields. Following this, they turn to a more specialized study for subfamilies of fields of the form \(\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{\pm{\ell}})\) and \(\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{\pm{2 \ell}})\) where \(\ell\) runs over odd primes. For a general number field \(F\), one may deduce from Gras's formula that \[ \operatorname{rank}_4(T_2(F)) = \operatorname{rank}_2 (T_2(F)) - \operatorname{rank} (R) \] where the Rédei matrix \(R\) has its entries to be Artin symbols \([a,b]\) of certain pairs of elements with \(a\), an idèle and \(b \in F^{\ast}\). The authors prove an explicit formula for \(\operatorname{rank}_4 (T_2(F))\) for imaginary quadratic fields \(F\) by explicitly `determining' \(R\). Finally, based on their density results and some numerical data, the authors propose for any \(p\), conjectures about the distribution of \(T_p(F)\) when \(F\) varies over real or imaginary quadratic fields, and also conjectures about \(T_2(F)\) as \(F\) varies over fields of the form \(\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{\pm{\ell}})\) and \(\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{\pm{2 \ell}})\). These latter conjectures are in the spirit of Cohen-Lenstra heuristics.