This graduate textbook offers an introduction to modern methods in number theory. It gives a complete account of the main results of class field theory as well as the Poitou-Tate duality theorems, considered crowning achievements of modern number theory. Assuming a first graduate course in algebra and number theory, the book begins with an introduction to group and Galois cohomology. Local fields and local class field theory, including Lubin-Tate formal group laws, are covered next, followed by global class field theory and the description of abelian extensions of global fields. The final part of the book gives an accessible yet complete exposition of the Poitou-Tate duality theorems. Two appendices cover the necessary background in homological algebra and the analytic theory of Dirichlet L-series, including the Čebotarev density theorem. Based on several advanced courses given by the author, this textbook has been written for graduate students. Including complete proofs and numerous exercises, the book will also appeal to more experienced mathematicians, either as a text to learn the subject or as a reference.

A self-contained exposition of local class field theory for students in advanced algebra.

Translation of the French Edition

Helmut Koch's classic is now available in English. Competently translated by Franz Lemmermeyer, it introduces the theory of pro-p groups and their cohomology. The book contains a postscript on the recent development of the field written by H. Koch and F. Lemmermeyer, along with many additional recent references.

This is an updated English translation of Cohomologie Galoisienne, published more than thirty years ago as one of the very first versions of Lecture Notes in Mathematics. It includes a reproduction of an influential paper by R. Steinberg, together with some new material and an expanded bibliography.

Class field theory, which is so immediately compelling in its main assertions, has, ever since its invention, suffered from the fact that its proofs have required a complicated and, by comparison with the results, rather imper spicuous system of arguments which have tended to jump around all over the place. My earlier presentation of the theory [41] has strengthened me in the belief that a highly elaborate mechanism, such as, for example, cohomol ogy, might not be adequate for a number-theoretical law admitting a very direct formulation, and that the truth of such a law must be susceptible to a far more immediate insight. I was determined to write the present, new account of class field theory by the discovery that, in fact, both the local and the global reciprocity laws may be subsumed under a purely group theoretical principle, admitting an entirely elementary description. This de scription makes possible a new foundation for the entire theory. The rapid advance to the main theorems of class field theory which results from this approach has made it possible to include in this volume the most important consequences and elaborations, and further related theories, with the excep tion of the cohomology version which I have this time excluded. This remains a significant variant, rich in application, but its principal results should be directly obtained from the material treated here.

This second edition is a corrected and extended version of the first. It is a textbook for students, as well as a reference book for the working mathematician, on cohomological topics in number theory. In all it is a virtually complete treatment of a vast array of central topics in algebraic number theory. New material is introduced here on duality theorems for unramified and tamely ramified extensions as well as a careful analysis of 2-extensions of real number fields.