The valuation criterion for normal basis generators

If $L/K$ is a finite Galois extension of local fields, we say that the valuation criterion $VC(L/K)$ holds if there is an integer $d$ such that every element $x \in L$ with valuation $d$ generates a normal basis for $L/K$. Answering a question of Byott and Elder, we first prove that $VC(L/K)$ holds if and only if the tamely ramified part of the extension $L/K$ is trivial and every non-zero $K[G]$-submodule of $L$ contains a unit. Moreover, the integer $d$ can take one value modulo $[L:K]$ only, namely $-d_{L/K}-1$, where $d_{L/K}$ is the valuation of the different of $L/K$. When $K$ has positive characteristic, we thus recover a recent result of Elder and Thomas, proving that $VC(L/K)$ is valid for all extensions $L/K$ in this context. When \char{\;K}=0, we identify all abelian extensions $L/K$ for which $VC(L/K)$ is true, using algebraic arguments. These extensions are determined by the behaviour of their cyclic Kummer subextensions

Deformation rings which are not local complete intersections

We study the inverse problem for the versal deformation rings $R(\Gamma,V)$ of finite dimensional representations $V$ of a finite group $\Gamma$ over a field $k$ of positive characteristic $p$. This problem is to determine which complete local commutative Noetherian rings with residue field $k$ can arise up to isomorphism as such $R(\Gamma,V)$. We show that for all integers $n \ge 1$ and all complete local commutative Noetherian rings $\mathcal{W}$ with residue field $k$, the ring $\mathcal{W}[[t]]/(p^n t,t^2)$ arises in this way. This ring is not a local complete intersection if $p^n\mathcal{W}\neq\{0\}$, so we obtain an answer to a question of M. Flach in all characteristics.Comment: 16 page

Index formulae for integral Galois modules

We prove very general index formulae for integral Galois modules, specifically for units in rings of integers of number fields, for higher K-groups of rings of integers, and for Mordell-Weil groups of elliptic curves over number fields. These formulae link the respective Galois module structure to other arithmetic invariants, such as class numbers, or Tamagawa numbers and Tate-Shafarevich groups. This is a generalisation of known results on units to other Galois modules and to many more Galois groups, and at the same time a unification of the approaches hitherto developed in the case of units.Comment: 14 pages; final versio