Gaussian periods in cyclotomic fields and relative traces as generators of intermediate subfields (Q2314668)

The aim of this paper is to find primitive elements for the subfields of the cyclotomic fields, that is, of the abelian extensions of \({\mathbb Q}\). The concept of cyclotomic periods goes back to C.F. Gauss. Let \(p\) be an odd prime number and let \(f\) be a divisor of \(p-1\). Let \(H\) be the unique subgroup of \(U_p:=\big({\mathbb Z}/p{\mathbb Z}\big)^*\) of order \(f\). For a number \(\lambda\), relative prime to \(p\), the relative trace from \({\mathbb Q}(\zeta_p)\) to \({\mathbb Q}(\zeta_p)^H\), \(\mathrm{Tr}_{{\mathbb Q}(\zeta_p)/{\mathbb Q}(\zeta_p)^H}(\zeta_p^{\lambda}) = \sum_{h\in H}\zeta_p^{\lambda h}\) is called an \(f\) period and is denoted by \((f,\lambda)\). It is known that \((f,\lambda)\) is a primitive element of \({\mathbb Q}(\zeta_p)^H\), that is, \({\mathbb Q}(\zeta_p)^H={\mathbb Q}((f, \lambda))\). The generalization to arbitrary \(n\) and to an arbitrary subgroup \(H\) of \(U_n\) is related to the nonvanishing of the relative trace of \(\zeta_n\). In fact, \textit{H. G. Diamond} et al. [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 277, 711--726 (1983; Zbl 0515.10032)] proved that \(\mathrm{Tr}_{{\mathbb Q}(\zeta_n)/{\mathbb Q}(\zeta_n)^H}(\zeta_n) \neq 0\) if and only if, for any \(a\in H, a\neq 1\), \(a\) is not congruent to \(1\) modulo \(r\), where \(r\) is the product of the distinct prime factors of \(n\) or twice this product, according to \(8\nmid n\) or \(8\mid n\). We also have that the nonvanishing trace of an element has degree \([U_n:H]\), which implies that it is a primitive element of \({\mathbb Q}(\zeta_n)^H\). The main result of the paper is Theorem 2. Let \(m_H\) be the number of elements of \(H\) which are congruent to \(1\) mod \(r\). Then \(\mathrm{Tr}_{{\mathbb Q}(\zeta_n)/{\mathbb Q}(\zeta_n)^H}(\zeta_n^{m_H})\) is a primitive element of \({\mathbb Q}(\zeta_n)^H\) over \({\mathbb Q}\). In the last part of the paper, it is proved that \(\mathrm{Tr}_{{\mathbb Q}(\zeta_p)/{\mathbb Q}(\zeta_p)^H}(\theta_n)\) is a primitive element of \({\mathbb Q}(\zeta_n)^H\) over \({\mathbb Q}\), where \(\theta_n=\sum_{k\mid n'}\zeta_n^k\) where \(n'=n\) if \(n\) is odd and \(n'=n/2\) if \(4\mid n\). The results of the paper are obtained by using elementary properties of cyclotomic fields and of Galois theory.