Index formulae for integral Galois modules (Q2869833)

Let \(F/K\) be a normal extension of number fields, and let \({\mathcal O}_F\) denote the ring of integers in \(F\). Dirichlet's class number formula shows that the class number of \(F = \mathbb Q(i,\sqrt{m}\,)\) is, up to some easily understood factors and a unit index, just the product of the class numbers of the quadratic subextensions of \(F/\mathbb Q\). This class number formula was generalized not only to a large class of normal extensions of number fields, but also to analogous formulas for higher class numbers, orders of algebraic \(K\)-groups or Mordell-Weil ranks and Tate-Shafarevich groups of elliptic curves. In the present article, the authors show that these formulas are a consequence of a representation theoretic result, which may be applied to situations that were considered by the first author in [J. Reine Angew. Math. 668, 211--244 (2012; Zbl 1270.11115)] and by the second author in [\textit{B. de Smit}, Acta Arith. 98, No. 2, 133--146 (2001; Zbl 0998.11058)]. The general result requires as an input a Brauer relation of a certain kind, which exists e.g. for semidirect products \(C_p \rtimes C_n\) of cyclic groups, Heisenberg groups of order \(p^3\), and several other classes of groups.