Generators for abelian extensions of number fields

Abstract

Let $U/L$ be a finite abelian extension of number fields. We first construct a universal primitive generator of $U$ over $L$ whose relative trace to any intermediate field $F$ becomes a generator of $F$ over $L$, too. We also develop a similar argument in terms of norm. As its examples we investigate towers of ray class fields over imaginary quadratic fields. And, we further present a new method of finding a normal element for the extension $U/L$.