Let be the Minkowski embedding of a number field applied to a nonzero fractional ideal. Under the metric , its covolume is . For ordinary coordinate Lebesgue measure , its covolume is instead . Here is the field discriminant, and the absolute norm of a fractional ideal is positive and multiplicative. The formula follows by taking the embedding determinant of an integral basis, then using the index of an integral ideal and scaling to handle a fractional ideal.
The relative discriminant of a finite extension of number fields is the relative norm of a fractional ideal applied to its different ideal. Consequently, at ,
where is the residue-field degree and is the different exponent. Over , .
Let , and . For each prime ideal of above of , set . The relative norm of a fractional ideal can be specified on the unique prime ideal factorization by
Here is why this definition is the intrinsic relative ideal norm from norms of elements, and why the residue weights occur. Localize at . The finite torsion-free -module is free of rank , because is a discrete valuation ring. Multiplication by a nonzero integral has determinant . The Smith normal form gives
Decompose the quotient at the prime ideals above . In each quotient is one-dimensional over , so has length over . Therefore
For an integral ideal , all norms of elements of have valuations at least . These minima can be attained simultaneously at the finitely many prime ideals above a fixed . In fact the Chinese remainder theorem for ideals, applied inside the finitely generated module , chooses an with nonzero image in each . Equivalently at all these primes. The generated ideal of the element norms consequently has exactly the displayed valuations. Clearing a denominator extends this description to fractional ideals.
Multiplication of fractional ideals adds their prime valuations. The displayed formula therefore proves
It also gives .
Finally, reduction of the free rank- module modulo has dimension over . The factorization and the Chinese remainder theorem for ideals identify this reduction with the product of the quotients by . Their filtrations have successive quotients of dimension over . Adding dimensions proves the fundamental identity for prime decomposition:
A normalization is important here. I use the covolume-one theta function of a fractional ideal, for which the requested limit is , and also give the formula for the unnormalized Gaussian theta sum.
Let , let , and choose one field embedding for each Archimedean place. The Minkowski embedding of a number field identifies
with a real inner product space having
Its Euclidean Lebesgue measure is . With this convention, the covolume of a fractional ideal lattice is
where is the field discriminant and is the positive absolute norm of a fractional ideal. Thus the Euclidean lattice has covolume . Define
This Gaussian theta sum converges absolutely whenever every .
The trace dual of a fractional ideal is
Here is the inverse different. Since , we have . There is a subtle distinction between the trace pairing and the positive inner product: the dual lattice of is , where the bar conjugates the complex coordinates and fixes the real ones. Indeed,
Consequently . Coordinatewise complex conjugation preserves the weighted squared lengths in the Gaussian theta sum.
Here are the precise analytic formulas used in the proof. For a Schwartz function on , take the Fourier transform to be
For a full Euclidean lattice of covolume , the Poisson summation formula for a Euclidean lattice is
For , the Gaussian Fourier transform, applied in orthonormal real coordinates, gives
More generally, for a real positive-definite matrix that is symmetric. Each complex coordinate contributes two real coordinates, which explains its exponent .
Apply the Poisson summation formula for a Euclidean lattice to , whose covolume is , and use the preceding description of its dual lattice. The anisotropic theta functional equation is
For comparison, the unnormalized Gaussian theta sum
has the functional equation
and its corresponding limit is rather than . Explicitly, our normalization is .
For the small-parameter asymptotic of a lattice theta sum, means that every coordinate tends to zero. In , the zero lattice vector contributes . Every nonzero vector contributes a term tending to zero. Once every , all these terms are bounded by the summable Gaussian theta sum . The dominated convergence theorem therefore gives . Using the anisotropic theta functional equation,
The condition that every coordinate tends to zero matters; alone would not justify this argument.
Write . The field trace gives a nondegenerate -bilinear trace pairing
The inverse different, or codifferent, is the trace-dual lattice
It contains , because the trace of an element integral over belongs to the integrally closed ring . It is stable under multiplication by : if and , then . Nondegeneracy of the trace pairing and finite generation of show that this trace dual is a finitely generated -module spanning . Therefore it is a fractional ideal of .
Its inverse
is the different ideal. Since , every such lies in ; hence is an integral ideal of .
The discriminant ideal is locally generated by
where is a local -basis of . Equivalently, it is the image of the determinant of the trace pairing
This formulation makes the definition independent of a basis, since changing a basis multiplies its discriminant by the square of the determinant of the change-of-basis matrix.
The asserted identity of ideals can be checked after localization at every nonzero prime ideal of . We may therefore assume that is a discrete valuation ring and choose a basis of . Let be its trace-dual basis, so ; this is a basis of . If , then
Thus the determinant measuring the inclusion is . The determinant description of the norm of a fractional ideal consequently gives
Localization then proves the equality over the original Dedekind domain.
Finally, the determinant-of-pairing map identifies the invertible -module with the discriminant ideal. Hence in the ideal class group
up to the harmless inverse caused by the convention used to identify invertible modules with fractional ideals. In either convention the class is a square.
The ring of integers is , where , and its class number is one by the Minkowski bound for ideal classes. Modulo seven it is . The six roots of unity reduce to the kernel of the product map on the two residue unit groups, so the ray class group is , of order six. The relative Artin symbol on is exponentiation by the norm of a fractional ideal modulo seven. It kills the principal ray subgroup, and , proving that this is the ray class field.
For a nonzero fractional ideal of a number field, the displayed generated ideal equals the relative norm of a fractional ideal. Locally, multiplication by on the integral lattice has determinant . A Smith normal form calculation and the residue filtrations give . The Chinese remainder theorem for ideals chooses simultaneously attaining the minimum valuation of at each prime above a fixed . Thus the generated ideal has valuation . Adding these valuations proves multiplicativity, including fractional ideals after clearing denominators.