Wilson's theorem in algebraic number fields (Q2777508)

In 1981 Š. Schwarz published extensions of some basic results of elementary number theory (Fermat-Euler theorem, Wilson's theorem, etc.) based on a semigroup theory technique. In this approach the fundamental observation is that the semigroup \({\mathbb Z}_n\) of residue classes modulo \(n\) contains besides \(1\) also other idempotents. Then the position of the set of coprime elements in \({\mathbb Z}_n\) is taken by the maximal group centered around idempotents in \({\mathbb Z}_n\). The reviewer and the author extended Schwarz's idea to finite commutative rings, which in turn gave a corresponding extension of the Fermat-Euler theorem to algebraic number fields [J. Number Theory 60, 254-290 (1996; Zbl 0877.11069)]. In the present paper the author shows that a ring-theoretic approach is also applicable to Wilson's theorem. An extension of this theorem to algebraic number fields with explicit specialization to Gaussian integers or quadratic fields is given.