Normal integral basis of an unramified quadratic extension over a cyclotomic \(\mathbb{Z}_2\)-extension (Q2630469)

Let \(L/K\) be a finite Galois extension of number fields with Galois group \(G\). Noether showed that the ring of integers \(\mathcal{O}_{L}\) is projective as a module over the group ring \(\mathcal{O}_{K}[G]\) if and only if \(L/K\) is at most tamely ramified. The extension \(L/K\) is said to have a normal integral basis (NIB) if \(\mathcal{O}_{L}\) is in fact free (necessarily of rank \(1\)) over \(\mathcal{O}_{K}[G]\). \textit{J. Brinkhuis} [Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 24, 236--242 (1992; Zbl 0768.11045)] showed that if \(K\) is a totally real number field then a finite abelian extension \(L/K\) that is unramified at all finite primes never has a NIB, with the possible exception of a multi-quadratic extension of \(K\). The article under review considers this possible exception in a special case. Let \(K/\mathbb{Q}\) be a cyclic extension of odd prime degree \(\ell\). Let \(K_{n}\) denote the \(n\)th layer of the cyclotomic \(\mathbb{Z}_{2}\)-extension \(K_{\infty}/K\) with \(K_{0}=K\). Note that \(K_{n}\) is totally real for every \(n \geq 0\). Let \(A_{n}\) be the Sylow \(2\)-subgroup of the ideal class group of \(K_{n}\) and let \(H/K\) be the class field corresponding to the quotient \(A_{0}/A_{0}^{2}\). The article under review considers the following two questions: (Q1) Does \(H/K\) have a NIB? (Q2) If not, does the pushed-up extension \(HK_{n}/K_{n}\) have a NIB for some \(n \geq 1\)? The authors work under several assumptions, including: (A1) The prime number \(2\) is a primitive root modulo \(\ell\). (A2) The prime number \(2\) remains prime in \(K\). Let \(\zeta_{\ell}\) denote a primitive \(\ell\)-root of unity and let \(\mathbb{Q}_{2}\) denote the field of \(2\)-adic rationals. We note that (A1) is equivalent to \([\mathbb{Q}_{2}(\zeta_{\ell}):\mathbb{Q}_{2}] = \ell -1\). Let \(\Delta=\mathrm{Gal}(K/\mathbb{Q})\). Fix a non-trivial \(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}_{2}\)-valued character \(\chi\) of \(\Delta\) and let \(\chi_{0}\) denote the trivial character of \(\Delta\). Assumption (A1) means that the \(2\)-adic group ring \(\mathbb{Z}_{2}[\Delta]\) decomposes into components corresponding to \(\chi_{0}\) and \(\chi\) and thus any \(\mathbb{Z}_{2}[\Delta]\)-module \(M\) decomposes as \(M=M(\chi_{0}) \oplus M(\chi)\). It is well known that \(A_{n}(\chi_{0})\) is trivial for all \(n \geq 0\) and hence one can deduce that \(|A_{0}|=|A_{0}(\chi)|=2^{\kappa(\ell-1)}\) for some \(\kappa \geq 0\). Let \(\mathcal{O}_{\chi}=\mathbb{Z}_{2}[\zeta_{\ell}]\) be the \(\mathbb{Z}_{2}\)-algebra generated by values of \(\chi\). Let \(P_{\chi}(t) \in \mathcal{O}_{\chi}[t]\) be the distinguished polynomial associated to the power series arising from the \(2\)-adic \(L\)-function \(L_{2}(s,\chi)\) and let \(\lambda_{\chi}=\deg P_{\chi}\). The authors make the following further assumption: (A3) \(A_{0} \cong \mathcal{O}_{\chi}/2^{\kappa}\mathcal{O}_{\chi}\) with some \(\kappa \geq 1\). Under assumptions (A1)--(A3), the authors give the following answer to (Q1): \(H/K\) has a NIB if and only if \(P_{\chi}(0) \equiv 0 \bmod 2^{\kappa+1}\). To deal with (Q2), the authors make two further assumptions: (A4) \(2^{\kappa} \parallel P_{\chi}(0)\). (A5) \(|A_{0}|=|A_{1}|\). Under assumptions (A1)--(A5), the authors consider (Q2) in four cases, depending on whether \(\lambda_{\chi}=1\) or \(\lambda_{\chi} \geq 2\) and whether \(\kappa=1\) or \(\kappa \geq 2\). Finally, the authors give numerical examples in the case \(\ell=3\); more precisely, they consider cyclic cubic fields \(K\) of prime conductor \(p\) with \(p \equiv 1 \bmod 3\) and \(p< 10^{4}\).