A Simple Proof of the Mean Value of $\left|K_{2}(\mathcal{O})\right|$ in Function Fields

Abstract

Let $F$ be a finite field of odd cardinality $q$, $A=F[T]$ the polynomial ring over $F$, $k=F(T)$ the rational function field over $F$ and $\mathcal{H}$ the set of square-free monic polynomials in $A$ of degree odd. If $D\in\mathcal{H}$, we denote by $\mathcal{O}_{D}$ the integral closure of $A$ in $k(\sqrt{D})$. In this note we give a simple proof for the average value of the size of the groups $K_{2}(\mathcal{O}_{D})$ as $D$ varies over the ensemble $\mathcal{H}$ and $q$ is kept fixed. The proof is based on character sums estimates and in the use of the Riemann hypothesis for curves over finite fields.