On number fields with power-free discriminant (Q2303695)

This article investigates the minimization problem of the exponents occurring in the discriminant of a number field. In particular, given a finite transitive permutation group \(G\leq S_n\), a finite separable field extension \(F/K\) is said to be a G-extension if the Galois group of its Galois closure, acting on the conjugates of a primitive element of \(F/K\), is permutation-isomorphic to \(G\). The author is interested in the smallest \(k \in \mathbb{N}\), such that there exists a \(G\)-extension of \(\mathbb{Q}\) with \(k\)-free discriminant; that is, whose discriminant is not divisible by any prime power \(p^k\), for given \(k \in \mathbb{N}\). The purpose of this paper is twofold: it gives a general criterion (Theorem 4.1), reducing the construction of number fields with prescribed inertia subgroups to function field extensions with such inertia subgroups, under mild requirements, using the theory of specializations of Galois covers. In Section 5, this criterion is applied to the construction of extensions with \(k\)-free discriminant for smallest possible \(k\), for certain classes of groups. In Section A, the author discusses a strengthening of the property of \(k\)-free discriminants, applied to the special case \(k = 3\).