ON THE IDEAL CLASS GROUPS OF ℤ_p-EXTENSIONS OVER REAL ABELIAN FIELDS

Let $k$ be a real abelian field and $k_{\infty}={\bigcup}_{n{\geq}0}k_n$ be its $\mathbb{Z}_p$-extension for an odd prime $p$. For each $n{\geq}0$, we denote the class number of $k_n$ by $h_n$. The following is a well known theorem: Theorem. Suppose $p$ remains inert in $k$ and the prime ideal of $k$ above $p$ totally ramifies in $k_{\infty}$. Then $p{\nmid}h_0$ if and only if $p{\nmid}h_n$ for all $n{\geq}0$. The aim of this paper is to generalize above theorem: Theorem 1. Suppose $H^1(G_n,E_n){\simeq}(\mathbb{Z}/p^n\mathbb{Z})^l$, where $l$ is the number of prime ideals of $k$ above $p$. Then $p{\nmid}h_0$ if and only if $p{\nmid}h_n$. Theorem 2. Let $k$ be a real quadratic field. Suppose that $H^1(G_1,E_1){\simeq}(\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z})^l$. Then $p{\nmid}h_0$ if and only if $p{\nmid}h_n$ for all $n{\geq}0$.