Galois Extensions as Modules over the Group Ring

Abstract

Suppose that R is a commutative ring and G is a finite abelian group. In § 2 we review the definition of E(R, G) (T(R, G)), the group of all (commutative) Galois extensions S of R with Galois group G. We discuss the properties of these groups as functors of G and give an example which exhibits some of the pathological properties of the functor E(R, – ). In § 3 we display a homomorphism from E(R, G) to Pic (R(G)); we use this homomorphism to prove that if S is commutative, G has exponent m, and R(G) has Serre dimension 0 or 1, then a direct sum of m copies of S is isomorphic as a G-module to a direct sum of m copies of R(G). (This result is related to [5, Theorem 4.2], where it is shown that if S is a free R-module and G is any finite group with n elements, then Sn is isomorphic to R(G)n as G-modules.) We also give some examples of Galois extensions without normal bases.