Solvable absolute Galois groups are metabelian (Q5944876)

The main theorem proved in this article is that any solvable absolute Galois group \(G_F\) of a field \(F\) has an abelian normal subgroup such that the quotient is the direct product of two finite cyclic groups and a torsion-free procyclic group. In particular, this shows that such groups are metabelian. The proof is valuation theoretic and involves showing that \(F\) admits a nontrivial Henselian valuation \(v\) such that the absolute Galois group of the residue field is a torsion-free Sylow-cyclic group. Interpreting the information on the structure of \(G_F\) implicit in the corresponding ramification data allows for a complete classification (up to isomorphism) of solvable profinite groups realizable as absolute Galois groups. This complete classification is given in Section 4 of the paper. The results in this paper assume that \(F\) is not formally real and that \(G_F\) is not projective; however, these two cases were already fully understood.