On the Stickelberger ideal of a quadratic twist of a cyclotomic field (Q2257309)

Let \(p\) be an odd prime and let \(n\) be a natural number. Let \(\zeta=\zeta_{p^{n}}\) be a primitive \(p^{n}\)-th root of unity and let \(F=\mathbb{Q}(\zeta)\). Let \(m \in \mathbb{Z}\) be square-free and let \(L=F(\sqrt{m})\). The field \(L\) has an imaginary subfield \(K\) distinct from \(F\) with \([L:K]=2\) and \(K\) is called a quadratic twist of \(F\). It is clear that \(K\) is a quadratic extension of the maximal real subfield \(F^{+}=\mathbb{Q}(\zeta+\zeta^{-1})\) of \(F\). Moreover, if \(m>0\) then \(K=F^{+}((\zeta-\zeta^{-1})\sqrt{m})\) and if \(m<0\) then \(K=F^{+}(\sqrt{m})\). Let \(\chi\) be the non-trivial quadratic Dirichlet character associated with \(\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{m})\). The main subject of the article under review is the Stickelberger ideal \(S\) in the integral group ring \(R=\mathbb{Z}[\mathrm{Gal}(K/\mathbb{Q})]\). Let \(R^{-}=R^{1-J}\) and \(S^{-}=S \cap R^{-}\) where \(J\) denotes complex conjugation. The author computes an explicit system of generators for \(S^{-}\) and uses this to show that the index \([R^{-}:S^{-}]\) is finite if and only if \(m>0\) or \(\chi(p)=-1\). When these equivalent conditions hold, \([R^{-}:S^{-}] = h_{K}^{-}\) if \(m \geq -1\) and \([R^{-}:S^{-}] = 2h_{K}^{-}\) if \(m < -1\), where \(h_{K}^{-}\) denotes the relative class number of \(K\).