The special values of Dirichlet \(L\)-functions as an analogue of the Iwasawa power series (Q2450169)

Let \(\ell>2\) and \(p\) be distinct prime numbers and let \(N\) be an integer with \(\ell\nmid N\). Let \(\Xi_{\ell}\) be the group of Dirichlet characters of \(\ell\)-power order and \(\ell\)-power conductor. Fix \(k\geq 0\) and a Dirichlet character \(\theta\) mod \(\ell N\). The map \(\psi \mapsto L(-k, \theta\psi)\) yields a map \(\Xi_{\ell}\to \overline{\mathbb F}_p\). Such maps have properties analogous to the Iwasawa power series attached Dirichlet characters. For example, Ferrero's trick that proves that the Iwasawa power series in non-zero mod \(p\) (that is, the invariant \(\mu_{\ell}\) vanishes: \textit{B.\ Ferrero} and the reviewer [Ann. Math. (2) 109, 377--395 (1979; Zbl 0443.12001)]) also works to prove that \(\Xi_{\ell}\to \overline{\mathbb F}_p\) is not the 0 function (that is, the \(p\)-part of the class number is bounded in a cyclotomic \(\mathbb Z_{\ell}\)-extension of an abelian number field: the reviewer [Invent. Math. 49, 87--97 (1978; Zbl 0403.12007)]). The present paper aims to extend this analogy. The results are analogous to results for Iwasawa power series mod \(p\) that were proved by \textit{B. Anglès} and \textit{G. Ranieri} [Ann. Inst. Fourier 60, No. 5, 1831--1855 (2010; Zbl 1219.11162)] and the author [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 138, No. 6, 1955--1963 (2010; Zbl 1201.11083)]. The author proves that if \(\theta_i\), \(1\leq i\leq t\), are distinct Dirichlet characters mod \(\ell N\) and if \(k_j\), \(1\leq j\leq s\), are non-negative integers that are distinct mod \(p\) such that \(\theta_i(-1)=(-1)^{k_j+1}\) for all \(i, j\), then the functions \(L(-k_j, \theta_i\psi)\) are linearly independent over \(\overline{\mathbb F}_p(\Xi_{\ell})\). It is also shown that for a fixed \(\theta\) and \(k\) such that \(\theta(-1)=(-1)^{k+1}\), the function \(L(-k,\theta\psi)\) is transcendental over \(\overline{\mathbb F}_p(\Xi_{\ell})\). For \(1\leq i\leq t\), let \(\ell_i\) be distinct odd primes that are distinct from \(p\), let \(k_i\) be non-negative integers, and let \(\theta_i\) be distinct Dirichlet characters mod \(\ell_1\cdots \ell_t N\) such that \(\theta_i(-1)=(-1)^{k_i+1}\) for each \(i\). Let \(\Xi\) be any subset of \(\Xi_{\ell_1}\times \cdots \times \Xi_{\ell_t}\) whose projection to each factor is infinite. The author proves that the set \[ \{ (L(-k_1, \theta_1\psi_1), \dots, L(-k_t, \theta_t\psi_t)) \mid (\psi_1, \dots, \psi_t)\in \Xi\} \] is Zariski dense in \(\overline{\mathbb F}_p^t\).