Annihilating wild kernels (Q2279530)

Let \(L/K\) be a finite Galois extension of number fields with Galois group \(G\). Let \(p\) be an odd prime and let \(r>1\) be an integer. The author modifies the compact support cohomology complex of the étale \(p\)-adic sheaf \(\mathbb{Z}_{p}(r)\) to obtain a complex that is acyclic outside degrees \(2\) and \(3\). This complex is perfect if a conjecture of Schneider on the vanishing of a certain étale cohomology group holds; see [\textit{P. Schneider}, Math. Z. 168, 181--205 (1979; Zbl 0421.12024)]. Assuming Schneider's conjecture, the author formulates a `leading term conjecture at \(s=r\)' for \(L/K\) that relates special values of the equivariant Artin \(L\)-function at \(s=r\) to the aforementioned complex. By using the functional equation, he shows that the `rationality statement' of this conjecture is equivalent to a conjecture of Gross on leading terms of Artin \(L\)-functions at negative integers; see [\textit{B. H. Gross}, Pure Appl. Math. Q. 1, No. 1, 1--13 (2005; Zbl 1169.11050)]. Note that the conjectures of Schneider and Gross are both known to hold when \(L\) is totally real and \(r\) is even. A key result in the article under review is that the leading term conjecture at \(s=r\) is essentially equivalent to the equivariant Tamagawa number conjecture (ETNC) of Burns and Flach for the pair \(h^{0}(\mathrm{Spec}(L)(r),\mathbb{Z}[G])\); see [\textit{D. Burns} and \textit{M. Flach}, Doc. Math. 6, 501--570 (2001; Zbl 1052.11077)]. The advantage of the leading term conjecture is that it is more explicit than the ETNC, which is very general. Now let \(S\) be a finite set of places of \(K\) containing the infinite places and the \(p\)-adic places and write \(\mathcal{O}_{L,S}\) for the ring of \(S(L)\)-integers in \(L\), where \(S(L)\) denotes the set of places of \(L\) that lie above those in \(S\). For a ring \(R\) and an integer \(n \geq 0\), let \(K_{n}(R)\) denote the Quillen \(K\)-group of \(R\). Banaszak defined the `\(p\)-adic wild kernel' \(K^{w}_{2r-2}(\mathcal{O}_{L,S})_{p}\) to be the kernel of a natural map from \(K_{2r-2}(\mathcal{O}_{L,S}) \otimes_{\mathbb{Z}} \mathbb{Z}_{p}\) to a sum of certain étale cohomology groups; see [\textit{G. Banaszak}, Compos. Math. 86, No. 3, 281--305 (1993; Zbl 0778.11066)]. Let \(G_{L}\) be the absolute Galois group of \(L\). Denote the reduced norm of an element \(x \in \mathbb{Q}_{p}[G]\) by \(\mathrm{Nrd}_{\mathbb{Q}_{p}[G]}(x)\) and let \(\mathcal{H}_{p}(G)\) be a certain `denominator ideal' contained in the centre of \(\mathbb{Q}_{p}[G]\). Assuming the aforementioned conjectures of Gross and Schneider, the author defines a `canonical fractional Galois ideal' \(\mathcal{J}_{r}^{S}\) and conjectures that for every \(x \in \mathrm{Ann}_{\mathbb{Z}_{p}[G]}(\mathbb{Z}_{p}(r-1)_{G_{L}})\) we have \[ \mathrm{Nrd}_{\mathbb{Q}_{p}[G]}(x) \cdot \mathcal{H}_{p}(G) \cdot \mathcal{J}_{r}^{S} \subseteq \mathrm{Ann}_{\mathbb{Z}_{p}[G]}(K^{w}_{2r-2}(\mathcal{O}_{L,S})_{p}). \] Note that if \(p\) does not divide the order of the commutator subgroup of \(G\), then \(\mathcal{H}_{p}(G)\) is trivial and so may be omitted from the above conjectural containment. The author shows that the above annihilation conjecture is implied by the leading term conjecture at \(s=r\). The relation to the ETNC implies that both the leading term conjecture and the annihilation conjecture hold in several important cases.