Thaine's annihilator (Q2495298)

For a natural number \(m \not\equiv 2 \mod (4)\), put \(k = \mathbb Q (\zeta_m)\), \(G = \text{Gal} (k/\mathbb Q)\), and let \(D\) denote the multiplicative group generated by the units of \(\mathbb Z [\zeta_m]\) and the numbers \(\varepsilon (t) = \zeta_m^t -1\) with \(0 < t < m\). For any \(u \in \text{Hom}(D, \mathbb Z)\) put \[ \theta(u, \varepsilon (t)) = \sum_{\sigma \in G} u\bigl( \varepsilon (t)^\sigma \bigr) \sigma^{-1} \in \mathbb Z [G]. \] Theorem 1.1 shows that \(2 \theta(u, \varepsilon (t))\) annihilates the ideal class group of \(k\), which refines a famous result of \textit{F. Thaine} [Ann. Math. (2) 128, No. 1, 1--18 (1988; Zbl 0665.12003)], which was restricted to ideal classes of order prime to \([k : \mathbb Q]\). Suppose now that \(m\) is a power of an odd prime, let \(j \in G\) denote complex conjugation, and let \(S \triangleleft R^+ := (1+j)\mathbb Z [G]\) denote the ideal generated by the elements \(\theta(u, \varepsilon (t))\) with \(0 < t < m\) and \(u \in \Hom(D, \mathbb Z)\). In Theorem 5.4 it is proved that \((R^+ : S) = h^+\), the class number of the maximal real subfield of \(k\).