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In
number theory Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) said, "Ma ...
, Tate's thesis is the 1950
PhD thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
of completed under the supervision of
Emil Artin Emil Artin (; March 3, 1898 – December 20, 1962) was an Austrian mathematician of Armenian descent. Artin was one of the leading mathematicians of the twentieth century. He is best known for his work on algebraic number theory, contributing l ...
at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
. In it, Tate used a translation invariant integration on the locally compact group of ideles to lift the
zeta function In mathematics, a zeta function is (usually) a function analogous to the original example, the Riemann zeta function : \zeta(s) = \sum_^\infty \frac 1 . Zeta functions include: * Airy zeta function, related to the zeros of the Airy function * ...
twisted by a
Hecke character In number theory, a Hecke character is a generalisation of a Dirichlet character, introduced by Erich Hecke to construct a class of ''L''-functions larger than Dirichlet ''L''-functions, and a natural setting for the Dedekind zeta-functions an ...
, i.e. a Hecke
L-function In mathematics, an ''L''-function is a meromorphic function on the complex plane, associated to one out of several categories of mathematical objects. An ''L''-series is a Dirichlet series, usually convergent on a half-plane, that may giv ...
, of a
number field In mathematics, an algebraic number field (or simply number field) is an extension field K of the field of rational numbers such that the field extension K / \mathbb has finite degree (and hence is an algebraic field extension). Thus K is a f ...
to a zeta integral and study its properties. Using
harmonic analysis Harmonic analysis is a branch of mathematics concerned with the representation of functions or signals as the superposition of basic waves, and the study of and generalization of the notions of Fourier series and Fourier transforms (i.e. an ex ...
, more precisely the
Poisson summation formula In mathematics, the Poisson summation formula is an equation that relates the Fourier series coefficients of the periodic summation of a function to values of the function's continuous Fourier transform. Consequently, the periodic summation of ...
, he proved the
functional equation In mathematics, a functional equation is, in the broadest meaning, an equation in which one or several functions appear as unknowns. So, differential equations and integral equations are functional equations. However, a more restricted meaning ...
and
meromorphic continuation In complex analysis, a branch of mathematics, analytic continuation is a technique to extend the domain of definition of a given analytic function. Analytic continuation often succeeds in defining further values of a function, for example in a ...
of the zeta integral and the Hecke L-function. He also located the poles of the twisted zeta function. His work can be viewed as an elegant and powerful reformulation of a work of
Erich Hecke Erich Hecke (20 September 1887 – 13 February 1947) was a German mathematician known for his work in number theory and the theory of modular forms. Biography Hecke was born in Buk, Province of Posen, German Empire (now Poznań, Poland). He o ...
on the proof of the functional equation of the Hecke L-function.
Erich Hecke Erich Hecke (20 September 1887 – 13 February 1947) was a German mathematician known for his work in number theory and the theory of modular forms. Biography Hecke was born in Buk, Province of Posen, German Empire (now Poznań, Poland). He o ...
used a generalized theta series associated to an algebraic number field and a lattice in its ring of integers.


Iwasawa–Tate theory

Kenkichi Iwasawa independently discovered essentially the same method (without an analog of the local theory in Tate's thesis) during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
and announced it in his 1950
International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the Nevanlinna Prize (to be rena ...
paper and his letter to
Jean Dieudonné Jean Alexandre Eugène Dieudonné (; 1 July 1906 – 29 November 1992) was a French mathematician, notable for research in abstract algebra, algebraic geometry, and functional analysis, for close involvement with the Nicolas Bourbaki pseudonym ...
written in 1952. Hence this theory is often called Iwasawa–Tate theory. Iwasawa in his letter to Dieudonné derived on several pages not only the
meromorphic continuation In complex analysis, a branch of mathematics, analytic continuation is a technique to extend the domain of definition of a given analytic function. Analytic continuation often succeeds in defining further values of a function, for example in a ...
and
functional equation In mathematics, a functional equation is, in the broadest meaning, an equation in which one or several functions appear as unknowns. So, differential equations and integral equations are functional equations. However, a more restricted meaning ...
of the L-function, he also proved finiteness of the class number and Dirichlet's theorem on units as immediate byproducts of the main computation. The theory in positive characteristic was developed one decade earlier by
Ernst Witt Ernst Witt (26 June 1911 – 3 July 1991) was a German mathematician, one of the leading algebraists of his time. Biography Witt was born on the island of Alsen, then a part of the German Empire. Shortly after his birth, his parents moved the ...
,
Wilfried Schmid Wilfried Schmid (born May 28, 1943) is a German-American mathematician who works in Hodge theory, representation theory, and automorphic forms. After graduating as valedictorian of Princeton University's class of 1964, Schmid earned his Ph.D. at ...
, and
Oswald Teichmüller Paul Julius Oswald Teichmüller (; 18 June 1913 – 11 September 1943) was a German mathematician who made contributions to complex analysis. He introduced quasiconformal mappings and differential geometric methods into the study of Riemann sur ...
. Iwasawa-Tate theory uses several structures which come from
class field theory In mathematics, class field theory (CFT) is the fundamental branch of algebraic number theory whose goal is to describe all the abelian Galois extensions of local and global fields using objects associated to the ground field. Hilbert is cre ...
, however it does not use any deep result of class field theory.


Generalisations

Iwasawa–Tate theory was extended to the
general linear group In mathematics, the general linear group of degree ''n'' is the set of invertible matrices, together with the operation of ordinary matrix multiplication. This forms a group, because the product of two invertible matrices is again invertible, ...
GL(n) over an algebraic number field and automorphic representations of its adelic group by Roger Godement and Hervé Jacquet in 1972 which formed the foundations of the
Langlands correspondence In representation theory and algebraic number theory, the Langlands program is a web of far-reaching and influential conjectures about connections between number theory and geometry. Proposed by , it seeks to relate Galois groups in algebraic num ...
. Tate's thesis can be viewed as the GL(1) case of the work by Godement–Jacquet.


See also

*'' Basic Number Theory''


References

* * * * * * * {{Number theory Algebraic number theory Zeta and L-functions 1950 in science 1950 documents