Square classes of totally positive units (Q884515)

The authors investigate some conditions under which every totally positive unit of a real cyclic extension \(K\) of \(\mathbb Q\) is the square of a unit of \(K\). If \(K\) is the maximal real subfield of the cyclotomic field \(\mathbb Q(\exp(2 \pi i /q) )\) where \(q\) is a Sophie Germain prime of the form \(q = 2p+1\), with \(p\) prime, then Olga Taussky conjectured that every totally positive unit of \(K\) is a perfect square. In the paper under review, the authors prove that if \(p\) is congruent to 1 (mod 4) and if 2 generates a subgroup of index 2 in \((\mathbb Z/p\mathbb Z)^{\times}\), then Taussky's conjecture is true. Other real abelian extensions of a certain type are also considered. This is a well-written short paper dealing with a classical interesting problem studied by many mathematicians.