COATES-WILES

JEREMY ROUSE

Outline of day 2.
1. Background / outline.
2. Statement and generalization of Kummer’s result.
3. Infinitely many primes.
4. Putting it together.
1. Background/Outline
I will remind you that Coates-Wiles result states the following.
Theorem 1 (Coates-Wiles, 1976). Suppose that E/Q is an elliptic curve that has
complex multiplication by the ring of integers of an imaginary quadratic field K of
class number one. If E/Q has a point of infinite order, then L(E, s) vanishes as
s = 1.
In a nutshell, the approach is to show that the rational part of the L-value L(E, 1)
is a multiple of infinitely many primes, and is hence zero. I will be more specific and
introduce some notation.
Notation 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
It is reproved in Coates-Wiles paper that
Ω−1 Lf (ψ, 1) ∈ K.
Coates and Wiles show that if p is a prime outside some finite set S that is not
anomalous for E, then if p is a prime above p in O then p divides Ω−1 Lf (ψ, 1).
Another ingredient in the proof is that there are infinitely many such primes p.
I will now sketch the overall flow of the argument on the board here.
Three substantial inputs: Infinitude of primes, Theorem 29, and Corollary 32.
Fix a good prime p. Theorem 34 and Lemma 35 lead to the statement that
(Un0 /E n )(1) 6= 0.
This, leads to
(Un0 /C n )(1) 6= 0.
Corollary 32 then implies that
(U00 /C 0 )(1) 6= 0.
Theorem 29 implies that
Lf (ψ, 1) ≡ 0 (mod p).
1
2 JEREMY ROUSE

Then, the infinitude of the primes implies that

L(E, 1) = 0.

2. Statement and Generalization of the classical result of Kummer

As I mentioned the goal is to show that the critical value of the Hasse-Weil L-
function is divisible by many prime ideals. How does one get a handle on the p-adic
properties of L-values? Their approach is to generalize a classical result (essentially
known to Kummer) that provides some p-adic information about L-values.
First, we need quite a bit of notation. This notation is “local” in the sense that
it will only refer to things in this section. (That is, I won’t feel bad about reusing
notation later).
Let p be an odd prime, and µp be the group of pth roots of unity. Let Qp be the
field of p-adic numbers. Define the group
U00 = {α ∈ Qp (µp ) : α is a unit and NQp (µp )/Qp (α) = 1}.
Denote by ζp a primitive pth root of unity. Let V0 be the multiplicative group of units
in Z[ζp ] generated by {±ζp , 1 − ζpa |1 < a ≤ p − 1} and let
C0 = {α ∈ V0 : α is a unit and α ≡ 1 (mod p0 )}
where p0 is the unique prime above (p) in Z[ζp ].
Now, we can consider C0 ⊆ Qp (µp ) and take the closure of C0 with respect to the
p0 -topology on Qp (µp ). Let G0 = G(Qp (µp )/Qp ). We define the character χ giving
the action of G0 on µp . That is, if G0 = hgi, then χ(g) is an integer such that
g(ζp ) = ζpχ(g) .
(Note: We can think of χ(g) as being a p-adic integer)
It is not hard to see that G0 acts on U00 and C0 and hence it acts on U00 /C0 . Then,
U00 /C0 can be decomposed into spaces on which G0 acts by χk
U00 /C0 = ⊕p−1 0 (i)
i=1 (U0 /C0 ) .

The result of Kummer then states that if k is even then

1
(U00 /C0 )(k) 6= 0 ⇐⇒ ζ(k) ≡ 0 (mod p)
(2πi)k
where ζ(k) is the Riemann zeta function. This provides one approach for getting a
handle on the p-divisibility of the algebraic part of an L-value.
The approach in Coates-Wiles work is to generalize this situation and get a handle
on the p-divisibility of the algebraic part of L(E, 1). Before I state their result, I will
need to define what the analogous U00 and C0 are.
Notation 8-21 defining U00 .
0
Notation 22-31 defining C0 .
Then, their result states the following. It is numbered Theorem 29 in their paper.
 COATES-WILES 3

Theorem 2. Assume that p > 5 is a prime number satisfying (i) p does not belong
to the finite exceptional set S, (ii) p splits in K, and (iii) p is not anomalous for E.
Then, for each integer k with 1 ≤ k ≤ p − 2, we have that (U00 /C 0 )(k) is non-trivial if
k
and only if Ω−k Lf (ψ , k) ≡ 0 (mod p).
Such a prime p will be called a “good prime.”
Theorem 29 and Corollary 32 are the two key pieces that go into the proof of the
Theorem. Before we state Corollary 32 we need the following.
Notation 32.
Corollary 32 states the following:
Corollary 3. Let k be a fixed integer with 1 ≤ k < p − 1. Then (U00 /C 0 )(1) is
non-trivial if and only if (Un0 /C n )(1) is non-trivial for some integer n > 0.
3. Infinitely many primes
The theorem above gives is that if p is a prime outside the finite set S that splits in
K and is not anomalous for E then if p is a prime above p then p divides Ω−1 Lf (E, 1).
Our goal is to show that there are infinitely many such primes.
Review notations 8, 12, 13.
Now, if the trace of the Frobenius mod p is π + π ≡ 1 (mod p) then by Deligne we
√
know that |π| = p and hence π + π = 1.
Lemma 4. If 2 ramifies or splits in K, then there are no anomalous prime for E.
Proof. In this case, there is a prime ideal q with norm 2. Then, reducing π and π
mod q, we see that either π ≡ π (mod q) and hence π + π ≡ 0 (mod q). This implies
that q divides π + π and hence π + π 6= 1. 
√ √ √
Now, 2 ramifies in Q( −1) and Q( −2) √ and splits in Q( −7). The remaining
fields of class number 1 are all of the form Q( −q) for q a prime congruent to 3 mod
4. (This can be shown
h √ by i simpler means than the Baker-Heegner-Stark theorem). In
1+ −q
this case O = Z 2
.
h √ i
Lemma 5. Suppose that p is an anomalous prime for E that splits in Z 1+ 2 −q .
Then, if r is an odd prime different from q such that qr = 1, then


 
4p − 1
6= −1.
r
Hence, if p is a prime such that
 
4p − 1
= −1
r
then p is not anomalous. Dirichlet’s theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions
then implies there are infinitely many such p.
4 JEREMY ROUSE

Proof. Write  √ 
1+ −q
π =a+b ,
2
for the Frobenius endomorphism modulo p for a prime above p. We know that
√
π + π = 1 = 2a + b. Then, ππ is a positive integer and since |π| = |π| = p we have
that  2
b
ππ = a + + q(b/2)2 = p.
2
Multiplying by four we have that
4p = (2a + b)2 + qb2 .
Now, 2a + b = 1 and hence
4p = 1 + qb2 .
r


Now, if r is an odd prime that does not divide q such that q
= 1 then
   2  
4p − 1 qb q
= = = 1,
r r r
as desired. 

4. Putting it together
Inputs
1. Infinitude of primes.
2. Theorem 29.
3. Corollary 32.
Notations 33-37.
State Theorem 34. [Previous paper of Wiles]
Notations 38-40.
State Lemma 35. [A lot of machinery behind this too]
Since Hn /Fn is ramified, it follows that Hn Ln F∞ /Ln F∞ is ramified and hence
nontrivial. However, since Hn /Fn is unramified outside of pn , it follows that Hn Ln F∞
is a subfield of Mn . Thus, we have that G(Mn /Ln F∞ ) is non-trivial and from the
action of G0 on G(Hn /Fn ) it follows from Theorem 34 that
(Un0 /E n )(1) 6= 0.
Then, since Cn ⊆ En it follows that
(Un0 /C n )(1) 6= 0.
Therefore, Corollary 32 implies that
(U00 /C 0 )(1) 6= 0.
 COATES-WILES 5

Then, Theorem 29 implies that

Ω−1 Lf (ψ, 1) ≡ 0 (mod p).
From here, the fact that there are infinitely many “good primes” for E implies that
Lf (ψ, 1) = L(E, 1) = 0.