A study of Inkeri's class number formula (Q2489559)

Let \(p\) be an odd prime and \(K_p=\mathbb Q(\zeta_p)\) be the \(p\)-th cyclotomic field. Let \(\mu=(p-1)/2\), let \(r\) be a primitive root modulo \(p\) and, for any integer \(i\), let \(r_i\) be the least positive residue of \(r^i\) modulo \(p\) and \(q_i=(rr_i-r_{i+1})/p\). Inkeri considered the matrix \(D=(d_{i,j})_{i,j=0,1,\dots,\mu}\), where \(d_{i,j}=q_{\mu-i+j}\) if \(i<\mu-1\), \(d_{\mu-1,j}=r_{\mu-j}\), and \(d_{\mu,j}=1\). Inkeri proved that \(\det D=h_p^-\), the relative class number of \(K_p\). Let \(s\) be the generator of the Galois group \(G_p=\text{Gal}(K_p/\mathbb Q)\) determined by \(\zeta_p^s=\zeta_p^r\). Let \(R= \mathbb Z [G_p]\) be the integral group ring, \(R^*=\{\alpha \in R\mid(1+s^\mu)\alpha\in(\sum_{i=0}^{p-2}s^i)\mathbb Z\}\), and \(R^-=\{\alpha \in R\mid(1+s^\mu)\alpha=0\}\). Let \(I\) be the Stickelberger ideal of \(K_p\) and \(I^-=I\cap R^-\). It is well-known (due to Iwasawa, Sinnott) that the indices \([R^*:I]=[R^-:I^-]=h_p^-\). Let us consider the following standard basis of \(R^*\): \(s^j(1-s^\mu)\) for \(j=0,1,\dots,\mu-1\) and \(\sum_{i=0}^{\mu-1}s^i\). One of the aims of the reviewed paper is to construct three bases of \(I\) such that the transition matrices from the standard basis of \(R^*\) to the given bases of \(I\) are closely related to Inkeri's matrix \(D\). The authors also modify these three bases of \(I\) to get bases of \(I^-\). The last section of the paper is devoted to a decomposition of \(h_p^-\) into a product of rational integers.