Structure of 2-class groups in the \(\mathbb{Z}_2\)-extensions of certain real quadratic fields (Q6072068)

For a number field \(K\), let \(A(K)\) denote the Sylow \(2\)-subgroup of the class group of \(K\) and let \(\mathrm{rank} \, A(K)\) denote its \(2\)-rank, that is, \(\dim_{\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}} A(K)/A(K)^{2}\). Let \(d > 1\) be a square-free integer, let \(K=\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{d})\), let \(K'=\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{2d})\) and let \(K_{1}=\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{2}, \sqrt{d})\). Assume that the places above \(2\mathcal{O}_{K}\) are ramified in \(K_{1}\). The first theorem of the article under review says that \(\mathrm{rank} \, A(K) = \mathrm{rank} \, A(K_{1})=2\) and \(\mathrm{rank} \, A(K')=3\) if and only if \(d\) has either three or four distinct odd prime factors and these primes satisfy certain congruence conditions modulo \(8\) (there are three cases, and we omit the details here). Let \(K_{n}\) denote the \(n\)th layer of the cyclotomic \(\mathbb{Z}_{2}\)-extension of \(K\) (the ramification condition means that this is consistent with the definition of \(K_{1}\) above). Then using a result of \textit{T. Fukuda} in [Proc. Japan Acad., Ser. A 70, No. 8, 264--266 (1994; Zbl 0823.11064)], the authors obtain the following corollary: if \(K\) satisfies the equivalent conditions of the previous paragraph then \(\mathrm{rank} \, A(K_{n})=2\) for all integers \(n \geq 0\). Now let \(K=\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{d})\) where \(d=q_{1}q_{2}q_{3}q_{4}\) is a product of four distinct primes such that \(q_{1} \equiv 7 \pmod{8}\), \(q_{2} \equiv 3 \pmod{8}\) and either (i) \(q_{3} \equiv q_{4} \equiv 5 \pmod{8}\) or (ii) \(q_{3} \equiv q_{4} \equiv 3 \pmod{8}\). Let \(K_{1}\) and \(K'\) be as above. In each case, the authors show that if the primes \(q_{1}, q_{2}, q_{3}, q_{4}\) satisfy certain conditions expressed in terms of Legendre symbols, then \begin{align*} A(K) &\simeq \mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z} \oplus \mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}, \\ A(K') & \simeq \mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z} \oplus \mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z} \oplus \mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}, \text{ and } \\ A(K_{1}) &\simeq \mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z} \oplus \mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}. \end{align*} In case (i), the conditions given in terms of Legendre symbols are also necessary.