A modulus of a number field is , with a nonzero integral ideal and a subset of the real places. Let be the group of fractional ideals prime to , and let consist of principal ideals with at each prime power in and at each selected real place. The ray class group is
The ray class field is the finite abelian extension for which the Artin map has kernel and induces an isomorphism . Equivalently it is the maximal abelian extension whose conductor divides .
To compute its order use the ray class exact sequence, including signatures:
The middle map lifts a residue and sign tuple to an element of by weak approximation theorem, then takes its principal ideal as a ray class. Different lifts differ by a principal ray factor. Its kernel consists exactly of tuples represented by global units. Every ordinary ideal class has a representative prime to the finite modulus, again by weak approximation theorem; this gives surjectivity of the last map. If denotes the ray units, the kernel of the unit map is . The Chinese remainder theorem and counting units in each prime-power quotient give the ray class number formula
First take . Its ring of integers is , where and . The Minkowski bound for ideal classes is , so every ideal class has a representative of norm one and . Its units are the six roots of unity. Modulo seven, the polynomial has distinct roots , and therefore
The unit group of this quotient has order . The unit maps to , which has order six; consequently unit reduction is injective and . The ray class number formula gives .
We also identify the quotient explicitly. Conjugation interchanges the two factors, so the residue norm is . Its kernel has order six and equals the image of the six units, since . Hence
The field has degree six over , since the degrees over are twelve and two. It is unramified outside seven by the cyclotomic computation and the base-change argument above. At primes over seven, has completion , and is the tame degree-six cyclotomic extension; its conductor exponent is one. Its relative arithmetic Artin symbol at an ideal prime to seven acts by
If with , then . Thus the Artin map kills the principal ray subgroup. It factors through the order-six ray class group; the residue norm quotient computed above shows that it is onto the degree-six Galois group, so the fields coincide. This proves the explicit ray class field of Q of square root minus three modulo seven:
Now take , and write . Its ring of integers is , its discriminant is , and its units are . The quotient by is
whose two units are both images of . The ray class exact sequence therefore gives .
For its class number, the Minkowski bound for ideal classes is , so each ideal class contains an integral ideal of norm at most three. The primes of norms two and three are
These are the only nontrivial possibilities within the bound, and their ideal classes coincide and have order at most two. The ideal is not principal: its being principal would give an integer solution to , which is impossible. Thus , the ideal class group is , and the ray field is the Hilbert class field.
We verify its actual identity rather than stopping at the degree. Put
The two quadratic fields and are distinct, so and . The integral elements are a rational basis. Their trace matrix is the Kronecker product of the two quadratic trace matrices, with discriminants and . Its determinant is therefore . The discriminant-index formula for an integral lattice shows that the field discriminant divides . On the other hand the relative discriminant ideal formula gives
The norm on the right is a positive integer, so equality is forced. Thus the relative discriminant ideal is the unit ideal, and is unramified at every finite prime. There are no real places of . The extension is quadratic and therefore Abelian; its degree equals , identifying it with the Hilbert class field of Q of square root minus six. Hence the ray class field of Q of square root minus six modulo square root minus six is
For a number field and a modulus of a number field , let be the group of fractional ideals prime to its finite part. Let consist of principal ideals generated by elements congruent to one modulo its finite part and positive at each real place in its infinite part. The ray class group is .
The classification theorem of class field theory asserts the existence of a ray class field and an Artin map isomorphism
Its intermediate fields correspond contravariantly to subgroups of this ray class group. Equivalently, for each congruence subgroup of fractional ideals there is a unique finite abelian extension with Artin group kernel and group . Every finite abelian extension occurs for some modulus. For a fixed modulus, these are exactly the extensions whose conductor divides that modulus; the same field may be presented using larger moduli, with the appropriate pulled-back group kernel.
We quote the conductor facts needed to specialize this classification. The finite conductor exponent is zero exactly at the unramified primes. A real place occurs in the conductor exactly when it becomes complex. Thus conductor one means unramified at every finite prime and split at every real place. With the ray class group is the ordinary ideal class group, so classification gives an extension with
It is unramified at all finite primes, and its real places split. Conversely, every finite abelian extension with those properties has conductor one and lies in . This proves the existence and maximality of the ordinary Hilbert class field. Its degree is finite by finiteness of the ideal class group. The real-place convention matters: allowing real places to become complex gives the narrow class field instead; for the imaginary quadratic field in part (ii) this distinction disappears.
For a number field and a modulus of a number field , let be the group of fractional ideals prime to , and let consist of principal fractional ideals with at the finite modulus and at the real places in . The ray class group is .
The Main theorem of class field theory states that there is a unique finite abelian ray class field for which the Artin reciprocity map induces
It is unramified outside the finite modulus and has no ramification at real places omitted from . More generally, subgroups with correspond, with inclusions reversed, to intermediate abelian fields, with Galois group . Every finite abelian extension occurs for some modulus. Equivalently, is the maximal abelian extension with conductor of an abelian extension dividing . This states both reciprocity and the existence theorem of global class field theory.
Since is inert, is prime and
The unit group is , and only is congruent to modulo , so
There are no real places and . The ray class number formula gives
Hence the ray class field modulo has degree over .
For , reduction of modulo gives . Its unit group is covered by the units of . The ray class exact sequence therefore identifies the ray class group with the ordinary ideal class group, of order two. Consequently this ray class field is the Hilbert class field of Q of square root minus six. To verify its lack of ramification, the integral basis candidate , where , has discriminant . The relative discriminant formula also forces the field discriminant to be divisible by . Equality proves that the relative discriminant ideal is trivial.
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 positive integer , the finite ray class group of is : the unit group permits either sign of a rational generator. Its ray class field is the maximal real subfield of the cyclotomic field . Including the real place requires positive principal generators and gives the full group and full cyclotomic field. Thus modulus gives , while gives . The Artin reciprocity map sends a prime to the exponent , taken modulo in the finite case. Ramification at real places is possible only when those places are included in the modulus of a number field.