On the arithmetic of Z_p-extensions

Abstract: This paper contains three parts. In the first part, we give a thorough overview of the theory of Artin-Schreier-Witt extensions: this theory allows one to understand the

m a t h b f Z / p^{n} m a t h b f Z

-extensions of any field

K

of characteristic

p

via

p

-typical Witt vectors. Let

W_{n} (K)

be the ring of

p

-typical Witt vectors of

K

of length

n

and let

w p = F - m a t h r m i d : W_{n} (K) l o n g r i g h t a r r o w W_{n} (K)

, where

F

is the Frobenius map and

m a t h r m i d

is the identity map. Artin-Schreier-Witt theory tells us that the abelian group

W_{n} (K) / w p W_{n} (K)

represents the set of

m a t h b f Z / p^{n} m a t h b f Z

-extensions of

K

. Since this theory is hard to find in literature, we have included a complete treatment in the paper. In the second part of the paper, we study

m a t h b f Z_{p}

-extensions of a local field

K = k ((T))

of characteristic

p > 0

where

k

is a finite field. Local class field theory and Artin-Schreier-Witt theory give us the Schmid-Witt symbol

[ , ): W(K)/wp W(K) imes widehat{K^*} o W(mathbf{F}_p)=mathbf{Z}_p,

which contains the ramification information of

m a t h b f Z_{p}

-extensions of

K

. We present a new simplified formula for

[,)

. This formula allows one to compute ramification groups, conductors and discriminants in an easy way. In the third part, we study

m a t h b f Z_{p}

-extensions of global function fields over a finite field. First, we give a formula for computing the genus in such a tower. We show that a previously obtained lower bound for the genus growth in a

m a t h b f Z_{p}

-extension is incorrect and we give a sharp lower bound. We also study when the genus behaves in a `stable' way. Finally, we find unique representatives of

m a t h b f Z_{p}

-extensions of the rational function field

k (X)

, and compute the genus in such a tower.

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