On Gauss sums over Dedekind domains

Abstract

It is a difficult question to generalize Gauss sums to a ring of algebraic integers of an arbitrary algebraic number field. In this paper, we define and discuss Gauss sums over a Dedekind domain of finite norm. In particular, we give a Davenport–Hasse type formula for some special Gauss sums. As an application, we give some more precise formulas for Gauss sums over the algebraic integer ring of an algebraic number field (see Theorems 4.1 and 4.2).