Ratios of regulators in totally real extensions of number fields (Q2639099)

Denoting by \(R_ k\) the regulator of a number field k, consider a finite extension \(L\supseteq K\) of totally real number fields and let \(n=[L : {\mathbb{Q}}]\), \(r=n-[K : {\mathbb{Q}}]\). The authors prove that \[ R_ L/R_ K\quad >\quad \max \{0.32 a(r),a(r)(\sqrt{3}n^{-2} | \log (| D| n^{-n})|)^{r-1}\}, \] where D denotes the discriminant of L and \(a(r):=1.285^ r(r+2)^{-1}r^{-1/2}\). If \(L\neq K\), it follows, in particular, that \(R_ L>R_ K\), except for finitely many extensions L/K. This is an improvement of some of the results obtained by \textit{A.-M. Bergé} and \textit{J. Martinet} [Acta Arith. 54, No.2, 155-170 (1989; Zbl 0642.12011)] and by \textit{J. Silverman} [J. Number Theory 19, 437-442 (1984; Zbl 0552.12003)].