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
Let
The ray class number formula is
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 .