Chapter 8
Class formations
8.1. Reciprocity maps
Definition 8.1.1. §
Let be a field. A class formation for is a discrete -module such that for each finite separable extension of , we have and an isomorphism
such that for any intermediate field , we have
where is the restriction map .
For the rest of this section, fix a field and a class formation a class formation for .
Remark 8.1.2. §
A class formation over gives rise to a class formation over all finite separable extensions of . Thus, in several results below, we use as the base field where it may be replaced by a finite separable extension without actual loss of generality.
Notation 8.1.3. §
For a finite separable extension of , we set . If is an intermediate extension, we let and denote restriction and corestriction between and . We write the corestriction map more simply by .
Remark 8.1.4. §
For a Galois extension , we have and an isomorphism
induced by the commutative diagram
Diagram description: Invariant maps for a class formation
The structural squares and triangles displayed here commute.
Objects, listed by row and column:
- Row 1, from left to right: column 1: 0; column 2: H superscript (2)( Gal (L / K),A subscript (L)); column 3: H superscript (2)(G subscript (K),A); column 4: H superscript (2)(G subscript (L),A).
- Row 2, from left to right: column 1: 0; column 2: fraction (1) over ([L:K]) blackboard Z / blackboard Z; column 3: blackboard Q / blackboard Z; column 4: blackboard Q / blackboard Z.
Arrows and lines:
- An arrow from 0 (row 1, column 1) to H superscript (2)( Gal (L / K),A subscript (L)), without a label.
- An arrow from H superscript (2)( Gal (L / K),A subscript (L)) to H superscript (2)(G subscript (K),A), labelled Inf.
- A dashed arrow from H superscript (2)( Gal (L / K),A subscript (L)) to fraction (1) over ([L:K]) blackboard Z / blackboard Z, labelled inv subscript (L / K).
- An arrow from H superscript (2)(G subscript (K),A) to H superscript (2)(G subscript (L),A), labelled Res.
- An arrow from H superscript (2)(G subscript (K),A) to blackboard Q / blackboard Z (row 2, column 3), labelled inv subscript (K).
- An arrow from H superscript (2)(G subscript (L),A) to blackboard Q / blackboard Z (row 2, column 4), labelled inv subscript (L).
- An arrow from 0 (row 2, column 1) to fraction (1) over ([L:K]) blackboard Z / blackboard Z, without a label.
- An arrow from fraction (1) over ([L:K]) blackboard Z / blackboard Z to blackboard Q / blackboard Z (row 2, column 3), without a label.
- An arrow from blackboard Q / blackboard Z (row 2, column 3) to blackboard Q / blackboard Z (row 2, column 4), labelled [L:K].
Remark 8.1.5. §
For all purposes below, we may weaken the statement that is an isomorphism in the definition of a class formation to being an injection, so long as is supposed to be an isomorphism for all finite separable extensions .
Definition 8.1.6. §
The unique element with is called the fundamental class for .
As a consequence of Remark 8.1.4, we may apply Tate’s theorem to obtain the following result.
Proposition 8.1.7. §
For any finite Galois extension of , there is an canonical isomorphism given by cup product with the fundamental class :
Definition 8.1.8. §
Let be a finite Galois extension of . The reciprocity map for with respect to the class formation for is the map
that factors through the inverse of the isomorphism of Proposition 8.1.7.
Lemma 8.1.9. §
Let be a finite group, let with image , and let be a homomorphism. Viewing as an element of and , we have
noting that .
Proof.
Consider the connecting homomorphisms and for the sequence
and its -dual
The image of in is the image of in , and the inverse image of in is class of the homomorphism that takes for to . We then have
□
Proposition 8.1.10. §
Let be a finite Galois extension of , and let denote the connecting homomorphism for the exact sequence of -modules. For any homomorphism , we have
for all .
Proof.
Note that by definition of , viewing its image as the group , where denotes the image of in . By the associativity of cup products and property (iii) of their definition, we have
The composition of the canonical maps
is the isomorphism induced by multiplication by (since the norm for acts as multiplication by on ). By definition of and the latter fact, we have
the final step from Lemma 8.1.9. □
Corollary 8.1.11. §
Let be finite Galois extensions of . Then
for all .
Proof.
Let be a homomorphism, which we may view as a homomorphism on (and its abelianization) as well. It suffices to show that for any such , we have . For this, it sufficient by Proposition 8.1.10 to show that
where abusing notation. Since , where
is inflation, this is clear from the compatibility of cup products with inflation. □
We may now define the reciprocity map.
Definition 8.1.12. §
The reciprocity map for with respect to the class formation for is the map
defined as the inverse limit of the reciprocity maps over finite Galois extensions of in a separable closure of .
The following theorem, which is immediate from the definitions, is called a reciprocity law.
Theorem 8.1.13 (Reciprocity law for class formations). §
Let be a field and a class formation for , and let . For any finite Galois extension , the composition of with restriction induces a surjective map with kernel .
Remark 8.1.14. §
A class formation for gives rise to a class formation for any finite separable extension of , with the same module and with the subcollection of invariant maps for finite separable extensions of . Therefore, we obtain reciprocity maps for all finite separable from a class formation for .
We next turn to properties of the reciprocity map. First, we need to describe a certain abstract group homomorphism.
Lemma 8.1.15. §
Let be a group and a subgroup of finite index . Let be a set of left -coset representatives in . Given and , let and be such that
Then the element of that is represented by the element is independent of all choices, and this induces a homomorphism .
Proof.
Note that acts on the set of left -cosets by left multiplication. If we replace a single by for some , then , so is replaced by if and if . In the latter case, , and then is replaced by . For all other , the quantity is unchanged. As the product is taken in , it is unchanged since the overall effect of the change is multiplication by . Similarly, if the ordering of the is changed, then the order of the is likewise changed, but this does not matter in . Thus is well-defined.
To see that is a homomorphism, we merely note that
and again that multiplication is commutative in . □
Definition 8.1.16. §
Let be a group and be a subgroup of finite index. The homomorphism constructed in Lemma 8.1.15 is known as the transfer map (or Verlagerung) between and .
Lemma 8.1.17. §
Let be a group and a subgroup of finite index. We have a commutative diagram
Diagram description: Restriction on first homology and group transfer
The structural squares and triangles displayed here commute.
Objects, listed by row and column:
- Row 1, from left to right: column 1: H subscript (1)(G, blackboard Z ); column 2: H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ).
- Row 2, from left to right: column 1: G superscript (ab); column 2: H superscript (ab).
Arrows and lines:
- An arrow from H subscript (1)(G, blackboard Z ) to H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ), labelled Res.
- An arrow from H subscript (1)(G, blackboard Z ) to G superscript (ab), labelled isomorphism symbol.
- An arrow from H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) to H superscript (ab), labelled isomorphism symbol.
- An arrow from G superscript (ab) to H superscript (ab), labelled V.
where the vertical maps are the canonical isomorphisms and is the transfer map and a commutative diagram
Diagram description: Corestriction on first homology and subgroup inclusion
The structural squares and triangles displayed here commute.
Objects, listed by row and column:
- Row 1, from left to right: column 1: H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ); column 2: H subscript (1)(G, blackboard Z ).
- Row 2, from left to right: column 1: H superscript (ab); column 2: G superscript (ab).
Arrows and lines:
- An arrow from H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) to H subscript (1)(G, blackboard Z ), labelled Cor.
- An arrow from H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) to H superscript (ab), labelled isomorphism symbol.
- An arrow from H subscript (1)(G, blackboard Z ) to G superscript (ab), labelled isomorphism symbol.
- An arrow from H superscript (ab) to G superscript (ab), without a label.
where the lower horizontal map is induced by the inclusion map.
Proof.
Recall that the vertical isomorphism is given by the series of canonical isomorphisms
As restriction is a -functor, we have a commutative diagram
Diagram description: Restriction through augmentation ideals
The structural squares and triangles displayed here commute.
Objects, listed by row and column:
- Row 1, from left to right: column 1: H subscript (1)(G, blackboard Z ); column 2: H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ); column 3: H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ).
- Row 2, from left to right: column 1: H subscript (0)(G,I subscript (G)); column 2: H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (G)); column 3: H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (H)).
Arrows and lines:
- An arrow from H subscript (1)(G, blackboard Z ) to H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) (row 1, column 2), labelled Res.
- An arrow from H subscript (1)(G, blackboard Z ) to H subscript (0)(G,I subscript (G)), labelled isomorphism symbol.
- A hooked arrow from H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) (row 1, column 2) to H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (G)), without a label.
- Equality joins H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) (row 1, column 2) and H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) (row 1, column 3), without a label.
- An arrow from H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) (row 1, column 3) to H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (H)), labelled isomorphism symbol.
- An arrow from H subscript (0)(G,I subscript (G)) to H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (G)), labelled Res.
- An arrow from H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (H)) to H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (G)), without a label.
That is, our restriction map factors through . By the definition of restriction on th cohomology groups, we have
where is a set of left -coset representatives in . For as in the definition of the transfer, this equals
Thus, the restriction map and the transfer agree.
The second statement follows easily from the commutative diagram
Diagram description: Corestriction through augmentation ideals
The structural squares and triangles displayed here commute.
Objects, listed by row and column:
- Row 1, from left to right: column 1: H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ); column 2: H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ); column 3: H subscript (1)(G, blackboard Z ).
- Row 2, from left to right: column 1: H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (H)); column 2: H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (G)); column 3: H subscript (0)(G,I subscript (G)).
Arrows and lines:
- Equality joins H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) (row 1, column 1) and H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) (row 1, column 2), without a label.
- An arrow from H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) (row 1, column 1) to H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (H)), labelled isomorphism symbol.
- A hooked arrow from H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) (row 1, column 2) to H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (G)), without a label.
- An arrow from H subscript (1)(H, blackboard Z ) (row 1, column 2) to H subscript (1)(G, blackboard Z ), labelled Cor.
- An arrow from H subscript (1)(G, blackboard Z ) to H subscript (0)(G,I subscript (G)), labelled isomorphism symbol.
- An arrow from H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (H)) to H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (G)), without a label.
- An arrow from H subscript (0)(H,I subscript (G)) to H subscript (0)(G,I subscript (G)), labelled Cor.
□
The reciprocity maps attached to a class formation satisfy the following compatibilities.
Proposition 8.1.18. §
Let be a class formation for , and let be a finite separable extension of . Then we have the following commutative diagrams:
- a.
-
Diagram description: Reciprocity in a class formation: norm and restriction
The structural squares and triangles displayed here commute.
Objects, listed by row and column:
- Row 1, from left to right: column 1: A subscript (L); column 2: G subscript (L) superscript (ab).
- Row 2, from left to right: column 1: A subscript (K); column 2: G subscript (K) superscript (ab).
Arrows and lines:
- An arrow from A subscript (L) to G subscript (L) superscript (ab), labelled rho subscript (L).
- An arrow from A subscript (L) to A subscript (K), labelled N subscript (L / K).
- An arrow from G subscript (L) superscript (ab) to G subscript (K) superscript (ab), labelled R subscript (L / K).
- An arrow from A subscript (K) to G subscript (K) superscript (ab), labelled rho subscript (K).
where denotes the restriction map on Galois groups,
- b.
-
Diagram description: Reciprocity in a class formation: inclusion and transfer
The structural squares and triangles displayed here commute.
Objects, listed by row and column:
- Row 1, from left to right: column 1: A subscript (K); column 2: G subscript (K) superscript (ab).
- Row 2, from left to right: column 1: A subscript (L); column 2: G subscript (L) superscript (ab).
Arrows and lines:
- An arrow from A subscript (K) to G subscript (K) superscript (ab), labelled rho subscript (K).
- An arrow from A subscript (K) to A subscript (L), without a label.
- An arrow from G subscript (K) superscript (ab) to G subscript (L) superscript (ab), labelled V subscript (L / K).
- An arrow from A subscript (L) to G subscript (L) superscript (ab), labelled rho subscript (L).
where the map is the natural injection and is the transfer map, and
- c.
-
Diagram description: Reciprocity in a class formation: conjugation
The structural squares and triangles displayed here commute.
Objects, listed by row and column:
- Row 1, from left to right: column 1: A subscript (L); column 2: G subscript (L) superscript (ab).
- Row 2, from left to right: column 1: A subscript (sigma (L)); column 2: G subscript (sigma (L)) superscript (ab).
Arrows and lines:
- An arrow from A subscript (L) to G subscript (L) superscript (ab), labelled rho subscript (L).
- An arrow from A subscript (L) to A subscript (sigma (L)), labelled sigma.
- An arrow from G subscript (L) superscript (ab) to G subscript (sigma (L)) superscript (ab), labelled sigma superscript (star).
- An arrow from A subscript (sigma (L)) to G subscript (sigma (L)) superscript (ab), labelled rho subscript (sigma (L)).
for each embedding , where denotes the map induced by conjugation for .
Proof.
Fix a Galois extension of containing . The norm induces corestriction from to on zeroth Tate cohomology groups, and
coincides with corestriction on Tate cohomology groups of in degree by Lemma 8.1.17. Part a then follows from Proposition 1.9.10c, which tells us that
for , since .
The injection induces restriction on , and the transfer map coincides with restriction on , again by Lemma 8.1.17. Part b then follows from Proposition 1.9.10a, which tells us that
for .
We leave part c as an exercise for the reader. □
8.2. Norm groups
Let us fix a field and a class formation for .
Definition 8.2.1. §
A subgroup of is called a norm group for the class formation if there exists a finite separable extension of with .
Notation 8.2.2. §
For a finite extension of , let us set .
Lemma 8.2.3. §
Let and be finite separable extensions of with . Then .
Lemma 8.2.4. §
Let be a finite separable extension of , and let be the maximal abelian extension of in . Then .
Proof.
It suffices to show that any is contained in . Let be a finite Galois extension of containing . Set and . By definition, we have , so maps trivially to by Corollary 8.1.11. In other words is the image of some element in . By the surjectivity of the reciprocity map and there exists such that . By Proposition 8.1.18a, we then have
so for some . It follows that , as desired. □
The following corollary is essentially immediate.
Corollary 8.2.5. §
Every norm group of has finite index in , with for , with equality if and only if is abelian.
We next show that the map that takes a finite extension of to is an inclusion-reversing bijection from finite abelian extensions of to norm groups.
Proposition 8.2.6. §
For any finite abelian extensions and of , we have the following:
- a.
-
,
- b.
-
,
- c.
-
if and only if ,
- d.
-
for any subgroup of containing , there exists an intermediate field in with .
Proof.
- a.
-
Let . We have if and only if is trivial, which occurs if and only if and are both trivial, and so if and only if and .
- c.
-
By Lemma 8.2.3, if , then . On the other hand, if , then by part (a) we have
By Corollary 8.2.5, this implies that , so , and therefore .
- d.
-
Let . Then induces an injective homomorphism
that must be an isomorphism as does not fix any larger subfield of than . The kernel of , being that is the composite of with restriction, is then . But we know from the reciprocity law that the kernel is .
- b.
-
By part (d), the group is equal to for some finite abelian which by part (c) is contained in both and . On the other hand, we clearly have that is contained in , so again by (c), the field contains as well.
The following corollary is nearly immediate from part (c) of Proposition 9.2.8.
Corollary 8.2.7 (Uniqueness theorem). §
For a norm subgroup of , there exists a unique finite abelian extension such that .
Notation 8.2.8. §
For a finite separable extension of , we set .
Lemma 8.2.9. §
For any finite extension of in a fixed separable closure , we have
where is the set of finite abelian (or separable) extensions of in .
Proof.
We have if and only if for all finite abelian over , and . □
Definition 8.2.10. §
We say that a class formation for is topological if is given an additional Hausdorff topology under which it becomes a topological -module with the following properties:
- i.
-
the norm map has closed image and compact kernel for each finite extension of finite separable extensions of ,
- ii.
-
for each prime , there exists a finite separable extension over such that for all finite separable extensions of , the kernel of by for is compact and the image of contains , and
- iii.
-
for each finite separable extension of , there exists a compact subgroup of such that every closed subgroup of finite index in that contains is a norm group.
Remark 8.2.11. §
The norm map for a finite extension of finite separable extensions is continuous if is a topological -module, since it is a sum of continuous maps induced by field embeddings of in its Galois closure over .
The following proposition uses only the property (i) of a topological class formation.
Proposition 8.2.12. §
Let be a topological class formation for . For any finite separable extension of , we have .
Proof.
Let be the set of finite abelian (or separable) extensions of in (and likewise with ). We have
the last step noting Lemma 8.2.3, and thus .
Fix . For any finite separable , the set
is compact since is closed and is compact by Definition 8.2.10(i). Since , there exists with , and then . Thus is nonempty. Note that if is finite separable, then , and so the form a collection of subsets of the compact space that satisfy the finite intersection property. We therefore have that the intersection of all is nonempty, so contains an element . Then , and as it lies in every . Thus, we have . □
The next proposition uses properties (i) and (ii) of a topological class formation.
Proposition 8.2.13. §
Let be a topological class formation for . Then is divisible, equal to .
Proof.
To see that is divisible, it suffices to show that for all primes . Fix . Let be a finite separable extension of containing . Set
where is the multiplication-by- map. By (i) of Definition 8.2.10, the set is closed, and by (ii), the set is compact, so is compact. By Proposition 8.2.12, there exists with . By Definition 8.2.10(ii), there exists with , and we set . Then , so is nonempty. Again, if is finite separable, then . It follows as in the proof of Proposition 8.2.12 that the intersection of all as varies is nonempty, so contains some element . By definition, we have and . Thus .
Since , we have
Suppose, on the other hand, that . Let with for . Take any finite separable extension , and set Then , so . Since was arbitrary, we have . □
We are now ready to prove the existence theorem for topological class formations, which tells us that given a closed subgroup of finite index in , there exists a finite separable extension with . Since a topological class formation for gives rise to a topological class formation for any finite extension of (in that the existence of in condition (iii) is assumed for all finite separable , and not just for ), this result for norm groups of implies the analogous result for norm groups over finite separable extensions.
Theorem 8.2.14 (Existence theorem). §
Let be a topological class formation for . A subgroup of is a norm group if and only if it is closed of finite index in .
Proof.
If a subgroup is a norm group, then it is of finite index by the reciprocity law and is closed in by Definition 8.2.10(i).
Conversely, if is a closed subgroup of of finite index, set . Then , so by Proposition 8.2.13. Let be as in Definition 8.2.10(iii). Then for any norm subgroup of , the sets are compact. The intersection of the over all norm groups is equal to , so is contained in the open set . Since the intersection of all with would be nonempty if each intersection were, there exists a norm group with .
Let , and write with and . Then , so , so , and thus . Thus, we have
Since is closed of finite index, so is , and thus it is a norm group by Definition 8.2.10(iii). Then is a norm group by Proposition 9.2.8a, and is a norm group by Proposition 9.2.8d. □
Proposition 8.2.15. §
Let be a topological class formation for . Then the reciprocity map
is continuous with dense image.
Proof.
To see that is continuous, we need only note that the inverse image of the open neighborhood of , for finite abelian, is open by property (i) of Definition 8.2.10.
The closure of the image of is obviously a closed subgroup of , so equal to for some abelian. As it also surjects onto each of the finite quotients since each is surjective, we must have . Thus, has dense image. □
8.3. Class field theory over finite fields
Class field theory for finite fields is rather simple, the reciprocity map being injection of into the absolute Galois group of the field that takes to the Frobenius automorphism. However, it allows us to give a toy example of a class formation that illustrates the theory we have developed.
Proposition 8.3.1. §
For any prime and all powers of , there are canonical isomorphisms for all powers of such that is a class formation for .
Proof.
For positive , we have
and the latter group is zero since the image of any continuous homomorphism of a compact Hausdorff group with values in a discrete group is finite, and the only finite subgroup of is trivial.
Consider the exact sequence
For , we have
where the direct limit is taken over multiples of , since has exponent dividing but is also a -vector space. Thus, we have isomorphisms
| (8.3.1) |
the latter map being given by evaluation at , and through these we obtain a map
For , we have a commutative diagram
Diagram description: Finite-field invariant maps under restriction
The structural squares and triangles displayed here commute.
Objects, listed by row and column:
- Row 1, from left to right: column 1: H superscript (2)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (n))), blackboard Z ); column 2: H superscript (2)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (m))), blackboard Z ).
- Row 2, from left to right: column 1: H superscript (1)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (n))), blackboard Q / blackboard Z ); column 2: H superscript (2)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (m))), blackboard Q / blackboard Z ).
- Row 3, from left to right: column 1: blackboard Q / blackboard Z; column 2: blackboard Q / blackboard Z.
Arrows and lines:
- An arrow from H superscript (2)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (n))), blackboard Z ) to H superscript (2)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (m))), blackboard Z ), labelled Res subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (m)) / blackboard F subscript (q superscript (n))).
- An arrow from H superscript (2)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (n))), blackboard Z ) to H superscript (1)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (n))), blackboard Q / blackboard Z ), labelled isomorphism symbol.
- An arrow from H superscript (2)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (m))), blackboard Z ) to H superscript (2)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (m))), blackboard Q / blackboard Z ), labelled isomorphism symbol.
- An arrow from H superscript (1)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (n))), blackboard Q / blackboard Z ) to H superscript (2)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (m))), blackboard Q / blackboard Z ), labelled Res subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (m)) / blackboard F subscript (q superscript (n))).
- An arrow from H superscript (1)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (n))), blackboard Q / blackboard Z ) to blackboard Q / blackboard Z (row 3, column 1), labelled inv subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (n))) and isomorphism symbol.
- An arrow from H superscript (2)(G subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (m))), blackboard Q / blackboard Z ) to blackboard Q / blackboard Z (row 3, column 2), labelled isomorphism symbol and inv subscript (blackboard F subscript (q superscript (m))).
- An arrow from blackboard Q / blackboard Z (row 3, column 1) to blackboard Q / blackboard Z (row 3, column 2), labelled fraction (m) over (n).
To see the commutativity of the lower square, note that the homomorphism that sends the Frobenius element in to restricts to a homomorphism sending the Frobenius to , and the invariant map for (resp., ) sends the homomorphism that takes (resp., ) to to the element . Thus, is a class formation for . □
Let us fix the class formation of Proposition 8.3.1 each prime in order to discuss reciprocity maps and norm groups.
Proposition 8.3.2. §
For a prime power , the reciprocity map
satisfies , where is the Frobenius element in .
Proof.
Let , and consider the homomorphism that takes (the restriction of) to . Let denote the connecting homomorphism arising from the sequence . By Proposition 8.1.10, as required, we have
the last equality following from the construction of the invariant map in (8.3.1). □
The following should already be clear.
Proposition 8.3.3. §
Let be a prime power.
- a.
-
For any , the reciprocity map
is a surjection with kernel .
- b.
-
The map is injective with dense image. With respect to the discrete topology on , it is continuous.
- c.
-
The map that takes , for , to is a bijection between (closed) subgroups of (under the discrete topology) and finite (abelian) extensions of in an algebraic closure of .
The third part of Proposition 8.3.3 does not provide such a great example of the theory of norm groups, in that the discrete topology makes the class formation topological, with and in Definition 8.2.10 both the zero group.