Signed fundamental domains for totally real number fields

Units and factorization (11R27) Zeta functions and (L)-functions of number fields (11R42) Totally real fields (11R80) Algebraic number theory computations (11Y40)

Abstract: We give a signed fundamental domain for the action on

m a t h b b R_{+}^{n}

of the totally positive units

E_{+}

of a totally real number field

k

of degree

n

. The domain

is signed since the net number of its intersections with any

E_{+}

-orbit is 1, i. e. for any

x i n m a t h b b R_{+}^{n}

,

sum_{sigmain S_{n-1}} sum_{varepsilonin E_+} w_sigmachi^{phantom{1}}_{C_sigma}(varepsilon x) = 1.

Here

c h i_{C_{s} i g m a}

is the characteristic function of

C_{s} i g m a

,

w_{s} i g m a = p m 1

is a natural orientation of the

n

-dimensional

k

-rational cone

C_{s} i g m a s u b s e t m a t h b b R_{+}^{n}

, and the inner sum is actually finite. Signed fundamental domains are as useful as Shintani's true ones for the purpose of calculating abelian

L

-functions. They have the advantage of being easily constructed from any set of fundamental units, whereas in practice there is no algorithm producing Shintani's

k

-rational cones. Our proof uses algebraic topology on the quotient manifold

m a t h b b R_{+}^{n} / E_{+}

. The invariance of the topological degree under homotopy allows us to control the deformation of a crooked fundamental domain into nice straight cones. Crossings may occur during the homotopy, leading to the need to subtract some cones.

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