On Hasse's Unit Index

Abstract

We study the distribution of Hasse's unit index $Q(L)$ for the CM-fields $L = \mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{d}, \sqrt{-1})$ as $d$ varies among positive squarefree integers. We prove that the number of $d\leq X$ such that $Q(L) = 2$ is proportional to $X/\sqrt{\log X}$.