Zp-extension ($\mathrm{Gal}(F_{\infty }/F)\cong {\mathbb{Z}}_p$)

A Zp-extension is an infinite Galois extension of a number field whose Galois group is topologically isomorphic to the additive p-adic integers. There is a unique intermediate field of degree $p^n$ for every $n\ge 0$, corresponding to $p^n{\mathbb{Z}}_p$. The finite layers form a tower with cyclic successive degree $p$ extensions.

At least one finite prime ramifies in a Zp-extension; otherwise the entire tower would lie in a finite Hilbert class field. Ramification can occur only over $p$: local class field theory makes inertia away from $p$ an image of a unit group with finite maximal pro-$p$ quotient, whereas ${\mathbb{Z}}_p$ has no nontrivial finite subgroup. Nonzero inertia is open in ${\mathbb{Z}}_p$, so it becomes total after passing to a sufficiently high finite layer.

For odd $p$, remove the finite torsion subgroup ${\mu }_{p-1}$ from the Galois group of $\mathbb{Q}({\mu }_{p^{\infty }})/\mathbb{Q}$ by taking its fixed field. For $p=2$, take the fixed field of $\{\pm 1\}$ instead. The remaining Galois group is ${\mathbb{Z}}_p$, using the p-adic logarithm on $1+p{\mathbb{Z}}_p$ or $1+4{\mathbb{Z}}_2$. For a number field $K$, the cyclotomic Zp-extension is the compositum with this rational tower.