The average genus number for pure fields of prime degree

Abstract

Let $\ell\geq 5$ be prime. Let $\mathcal{F}_\ell$ be the collection of (isomorphism classes of) pure number fields $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt[\ell]{a})$ of degree $\ell$, ordered by the absolute value of their discriminant. In 2018, Benli proved a counting theorem for $\mathcal{F}_\ell$, generalizing a previous theorem of Cohen and Morra when $\ell=3$. We prove that the proportion of pure fields of degree $\ell$ with genus number one is asymptotic to $(A_\ell \log X)^{-1}$ and that the average genus number for pure fields of degree $\ell$ is asymptotic to $B_\ell(\log X)^{\ell-1}$. Both $A_\ell$ and $B_\ell$ are expressed explicitly as a product over primes.