Number Theory – Unramified Quadratic Extensions of 2-Adic Numbers

local-fieldnumber theory

i already know how to get the 7 quadratic extensions of $\mathbb{Q}_2$ from hensel's lemma. they are $\mathbb{Q}_2(\sqrt{d})$ for d = -10, -5, -2, -1, 2, 5, 10.

question: which of these are unramified?

i looked it up (local fields, cassels) and it says the answer is d=5 is unramified and the rest are totally ramified, but his argument uses the discriminant which wasn't covered in the course i'm taking

EDIT: so i can work out that the ones where d is even are totally ramified by using the result that L/K is totally ramified iff L=K[a] where a is a root of an eisenstein polynomial, so that leaves the three odd cases

Best Answer

The unramified extensions of $\mathbb{Q}_p$ are very simple. There is exactly one unramified extension of $\mathbb{Q}_p$ of degree $f$ for every prime $p$ - it is the one obtained by adjoining the $p^f − 1$ roots of unity. This unramified extension is Galois and has Galois group isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}/f\mathbb{Z}$ over $\mathbb{Q}_p$.
Among the seven quadratic extensions of $\mathbb{Q}_2$ already six are (totally) ramified, namely for $d=-1,\pm 2, -5,\pm 10$. Hence the unrafimied must be the one with $d=5$. Alternatively, let $\zeta_3=(-1+\sqrt{-3})/2$, then $\mathbb{Q}_2(\zeta_3)=\mathbb{Q}_2(\sqrt{-3})=\mathbb{Q}_2(\sqrt{5})$ is unramified by the above statement.

See also the discussion here.

Related Question