Beyond class field theory: Helmut Hasse's arithmetic in the theory of algebras in early 1931 (Q2457840)

Hasse's interest in the arithmetic of algebras was sparked by Speiser's translation [Algebren und ihre Zahlentheorie. Zürich, Orell Füssli (Veröffentlichungen der Schweizer Math. Ges. Bd. 4) (1927; JFM 53.0112.01)] of \textit{L. E. Dickson}'s book on [Algebras and their arithmetic. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press. (1923; JFM 49.0079.01)]. In 1929, Hasse organized a seminar on hypercomplex systems together with Heinrich Jung and Reinhold Baer at the university of Halle. In February 1931, he invited the leading figures in the theory of algebras (including R.~Brauer, E.~Noether, M.~Deuring and H.~Brandt) to the ``Schiefkongress'' in Marburg. A few months later, Brauer, Hasse and Noether published their fundamental result on the structure of division algebras over number fields. In this article, the authors study Hasse's progress on central questions in the theory of algebras during this important period. They briefly explain the necessary mathematical background from class field theory, and then examine Hasse's notes and his correspondence with Emmy Noether (which has meanwhile been published [see, Helmut Hasse and Emmy Noether. Their correspondence 1925--1935. With comments and an introduction in English. (Helmut Hasse und Emmy Noether. Die Korrespondenz 1925--1935.) Göttingen: Universitätsverlag Göttingen. (2006; Zbl 1101.01010)] in order to show how Hasse's ideas developed; starting with the desire to use the local-global principle for giving structure to a bunch of observations made by Dickson, and coupled with some wishful thinking (originally, Hasse and Noether had hoped to use algebras for making progress in non-abelian class field theory), Hasse and his collaborators eventually obtained substantial results, which became central theorems in (the cohomological version of) class field theory.