Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / iii / Paper 123 / 4 / i / Solution

The discrete valuation gives a split exact sequencesplit by $n\mapsto {\pi }^n$. Reduction gives a second exact sequenceThe Teichmuller lift identifies the cyclic group ${\mathbb{F}}_q^{\times }$ with the group ${\mu }_{q-1}$ of prime-to-$p$ roots of unity in $K$, where $p$ is the residue characteristic. Consequently the multiplicative group of a non-Archimedean local field decomposes as

If $d=[K:{\mathbb{Q}}_p]$, the p-adic logarithm identifies a sufficiently deep higher principal-unit group with the additive group of a rank-$d$ ${\mathbb{Z}}_p$-lattice. The remaining kernel is precisely the finite group ${\mu }_{p^a}(K)$ of $p$-power roots of unity in $K$. Thus the principal-unit group of a mixed-characteristic local field has the topological group structure