Logarithm isomorphism on deep principal units Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-20
For a mixed-characteristic local field with residue characteristic , the p-adic logarithm and p-adic exponential function are mutually inverse continuous group homomorphisms on these domains. Bounds on the valuations of the denominators show that higher terms have greater valuation than the linear term. Dividing the logarithm by identifies the multiplicative higher principal-unit group with the additive integer ring; in particular it is torsion-free.
For , the quadratic Hilbert symbol is one if is a field norm from , and minus one otherwise; a square gives the trivial extension and symbol one. It depends only on the two square classes. Equivalently, the conic has a nonzero rational point precisely when the symbol is one. Interchanging and in the conic gives . The Hilbert norm residue symbol is a group homomorphism in each argument; for nonsquare , the cyclic local norm index makes its group kernel a subgroup of index two. The resulting pairing on square classes is nondegenerate. Also
since . In the language of local class field theory, ; in the Brauer group, it records whether the quaternion cyclic algebra splits. These are compatible norm-obstruction descriptions.
An unramified extension of local fields of degree two has norm group consisting precisely of elements with even valuation. Indeed,
and the norms on units are surjective. For the latter assertion, the norm on the finite residue fields is surjective. On successive higher principal-unit groups, the congruence
allows one to correct a proposed unit norm one digit at a time: the residue field trace is surjective, and completeness makes the corrections converge. An unramified quadratic field is unique up to isomorphism. Therefore, if is its defining nonsquare class,
For odd , choose the nonsquare unit from part (i). The polynomial has irreducible separable reduction, so it defines the unramified quadratic extension. Thus
The trivial class is included in , since a degree-one extension is unramified. The two units pair trivially, while . Any class outside has odd valuation and consequently pairs nontrivially with . This proves directly
For , the unit square classes from part (i) give . The element satisfies ; its reduction is irreducible and separable over . This shows that is unramified of degree two, giving
For a fully explicit pairing check, use the generators . We have and , since and from . But : a norm equal to would be a sum of two squares. If either summand had negative valuation, the sum would have negative valuation (equal negative valuations give valuation ); if both were integral, their squares could not sum to . Finally, the unramified norm criterion gives . The identity and determine the remaining entries. Writing , the exponent matrix is
For , annihilating both generators of requires , so . Annihilating alone requires , so is a unit class. Hence
These are the Hilbert-symbol annihilators of units and unramified square classes. Annihilators here are taken with respect to this pairing, or equivalently in the character group of a finite abelian group after identifying square classes with their Hilbert-symbol characters.
Fix a non-Archimedean local field , write , and use the arithmetic Frobenius normalization throughout: a uniformizer maps to the automorphism inducing on the maximal unramified extension. The Local Artin map, or local reciprocity map, is the canonical continuous group homomorphism
where is the maximal abelian extension inside a fixed algebraic closure with its separable part understood. Its finite projection to every finite abelian extension is onto and has kernel exactly the norm subgroup of a local field extension:
In particular, the quotient has order . This is how local class field theory turns abelian extension problems into computations inside a multiplicative group.
One precise definition of the finite reciprocity map uses the cup-product construction of local reciprocity. For a finite Galois extension with group , the local fundamental class is specified by local Brauer invariant . Cup product gives an isomorphism
The finite Local Artin map is its inverse, composed with the quotient map from . For abelian the target is itself. Taking the compatible inverse limit over finite abelian extensions defines .
The essential inputs to this cohomological construction have concrete arithmetic content. The local Brauer invariant identifies with ; restriction to multiplies the invariant by , so its kernel is cyclic of that order and has the distinguished generator . For every subgroup , Hilbert theorem 90 gives , while the same invariant calculation over the fixed field gives cyclic of order . These are the hypotheses of the algebraic cup-product isomorphism in Tate cohomology of a finite group. It is obtained by dimension shifting in group cohomology with a projective resolution of the trivial module and the extension representing the fundamental class. Thus the norm-kernel statement comes from the degree-zero definition of Tate cohomology of a finite group, rather than from an arbitrary assignment of an automorphism to each element. In an unramified extension of degree , the fundamental class is the cyclic algebra with arithmetic Frobenius generator and parameter a uniformizer; the isomorphism sends that Frobenius to the class of the uniformizer. This explains the chosen sign of reciprocity.
Several properties follow immediately from this construction. If are finite abelian extensions, restricting to gives . The Local Artin map is therefore compatible with the finite projections defining its infinite target. For any finite separable extension and , its norm compatibility is
Here is abelian, so the displayed restriction makes sense. An outline of the compatibility proof is to use the corestriction map in group cohomology: on multiplicative coefficients its degree-zero map is the norm. The cup-product projection formula, together with restriction and corestriction of the local fundamental class, gives exactly the commuting reciprocity diagram. The compatibility is an arithmetic instance of the functoriality of the cohomological definition.
The Local Artin map has dense image, because every finite abelian quotient receives a surjective map. Its kernel is trivial, and it extends to an isomorphism
where this profinite completion uses the open finite-index subgroups of the topological multiplicative group. The original map is generally not onto: on the unramified quotient it sends the integer valuation into , rather than producing every profinite integer. Its units map onto the abelian inertia group. For a finite abelian extension, the corresponding unit image is its inertia group, while the valuation accounts for its residue extension. Indeed , so the valuation quotient has order ; the full norm quotient has order , leaving unit image of order . Since unit images act trivially on the residue field, they give precisely the inertia group. More finely, the image of the higher principal-unit group in a finite abelian extension is its rth upper ramification group, for each integer . The use of upper ramification numbering is essential for compatibility with quotients.
The existence theorem of local class field theory states that every open finite-index subgroup is for a unique finite abelian extension . Inclusions are reversed: larger extensions have smaller norm subgroups. In the established reciprocity isomorphism, the proof is simply to take the fixed field of the open subgroup corresponding to . Conversely a finite extension gives an open kernel of a finite continuous projection. Uniqueness follows because that kernel specifies its fixed field. The substantive existence problem is therefore to prove that the reciprocity isomorphism realizes all open finite-index subgroups; it is not just this final fixed-field argument.
The Lubin–Tate description of local reciprocity provides an explicit route to that existence problem. Choose a uniformizer and a Lubin–Tate series , with its associated Lubin–Tate formal group . Solving successively by total degree constructs the law with linear part ; the analogous equations construct the endomorphisms with linear coefficient . The congruence supplies the divisibility needed at each step. These endomorphisms satisfy and make the torsion an -module.
If denotes the rfold iterate, the primitive level-r Lubin–Tate torsion points are roots of
Reduction modulo is , and the constant term is , so this is an Eisenstein polynomial. Its roots therefore generate a totally ramified extension of degree . A primitive point generates the entire torsion module, and all points are its images under the integral convergent endomorphisms . The torsion field is therefore a Galois extension of . The action map into is injective, and the computed degree equals the order of this unit group, proving it is an isomorphism. Passing to the inverse limit gives for the Lubin–Tate tower .
The unramified tower and are linearly disjoint field extensions: a finite common subextension would be both unramified and totally ramified, hence trivial. The Lubin–Tate description of local reciprocity on their compositum is
The inverse on the unit action goes with the arithmetic Frobenius convention; changing to geometric Frobenius inverts the whole reciprocity map. The reciprocity theorem identifies this explicit action with the finite cup-product maps, independently of the chosen uniformizer. Its proof compares the fundamental class with the norm relations between consecutive torsion fields. The construction makes the possible finite kernels concrete: on the compositum of the degree-d unramified field with the kernel is
These subgroups are cofinal among open finite-index subgroups. Indeed any such contains for sufficiently large , and contains for some positive , since the class of in has finite order. Taking the appropriate fixed subgroup in this explicit finite compositum realizes . This proves the open-subgroup part of existence once the norm compatibility of the explicit and cohomological constructions is established. Together with the finite reciprocity maps it also shows that .
As a direct check, on a finite unramified extension the construction reduces to
The earlier elementary unit-norm proof shows its kernel is exactly . At , the Lubin–Tate cyclotomic example takes and . Its torsion is , so a unit acts by . These examples exhibit both the valuation and unit parts of local reciprocity with consistent signs.
The discrete valuation gives a split exact sequence
split by . Reduction gives a second exact sequence
The Teichmuller lift identifies the cyclic group with the group of prime-to- roots of unity in , where is the residue characteristic. Consequently the multiplicative group of a non-Archimedean local field decomposes as
If , the p-adic logarithm identifies a sufficiently deep higher principal-unit group with the additive group of a rank- -lattice. The remaining kernel is precisely the finite group of -power roots of unity in . Thus the principal-unit group of a mixed-characteristic local field has the topological group structure