p-Tower Groups over Quadratic Imaginary Number Fields

Abstract: The modern theory of class field towers has its origins in the study of the p-class field tower over a quadratic imaginary number field, so it is fitting that this problem be the first in the discipline to be nearing a solution. We survey the state of the subject and present a new cohomological condition for a quadratic imaginary number field to have an infinite p-class field tower (for p odd). Under an additional hypothesis, we refine this to a necessary and sufficient condition and describe an algorithm for evaluating this condition for a given quadratic imaginary number field.