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Relative $K_{0}$, annihilators, Fitting ideals and Stickelberger phenomena

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2005

Victor P. Snaith
Affiliation:
Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Sheffield, Hicks Building, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield, S3 7RH, United Kingdom. E-mail: v.snaith@sheffield.co.uk
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Abstract

When $G$ is abelian and $l$ is a prime we show how elements of the relative K-group $K_{0}({\bf Z}_{l}[G], {\bf Q}_{l})$ give rise to annihilator/Fitting ideal relations of certain associated ${\bf Z}[G]$-modules. Examples of this phenomenon are ubiquitous. Particularly, we give examples in which $G$ is the Galois group of an extension of global fields and the resulting annihilator/Fitting ideal relation is closely connected to Stickelberger's Theorem and to the conjectures of Coates and Sinnott, and Brumer. Higher Stickelberger ideals are defined in terms of special values of L-functions; when these vanish we show how to define fractional ideals, generalising the Stickelberger ideals, with similar annihilator properties. The fractional ideal is constructed from the Borel regulator and the leading term in the Taylor series for the L-function. En route, our methods yield new proofs, in the case of abelian number fields, of formulae predicted by Lichtenbaum for the orders of K-groups and étale cohomology groups of rings of algebraic integers.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2005 London Mathematical Society

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Footnotes

This research was completed while the author held a Leverhulme Research Fellowship.