Upper bounds for the Euclidean minima of abelian fields of odd prime power conductor (Q378841)

Let \(M(K)\) denote the Euclidean minimum of a number field \(K\) defined by \[ M(K) = \sup_{x \in K} \inf_{c \in {\mathcal O}_K} N(x-c), \] where \({\mathcal O}_K\) denotes the ring of integers in \(K\) and \(N\) the absolute value of the norm map. Minkowski's conjecture predicts that for number fields with degree \(n\) and discriminant \(D\) we have \[ M(K) \leq 2^{-n} \sqrt{|D|}. \] In this article, the authors continue the recent investigation of this conjecture (see in particular the first author's [J. Number Theory 121, No. 2, 305--323 (2006; Zbl 1130.11066)]) by showing that it holds for a certain family of real abelian number fields. More precisely they show that Minkowski's conjecture is true for totally real abelian extensions of the rationals with prime power conductor \(p^r\), where \(p\) is odd and \(r \geq 2\).