Proof.
Recall that $|G| = [L : K] = nef$, see Lemma 15.112.2. Since $G$ acts transitively on the set $\{ \mathfrak m_1, \ldots , \mathfrak m_ n\} $ of maximal ideals of $B$ (Lemma 15.112.1) and since $D$ is the stabilizer of an element we see that $|D| = ef$. By Lemma 15.112.4 we have
\[ ef = |D| = |I| \cdot |\text{Aut}(\kappa (\mathfrak m)/\kappa )| \]
where $\kappa $ is the residue field of $A$. As $\kappa (\mathfrak m)$ is normal over $\kappa $ the order of $\text{Aut}(\kappa (\mathfrak m)/\kappa )$ differs from $f$ by a power of $p$ (see Fields, Lemma 9.15.9 and discussion following Fields, Definition 9.14.7). Hence the prime to $p$ part of $|I|$ is equal to the prime to $p$ part of $e$.
Set $C = B_\mathfrak m$. Then $I$ acts on $C$ over $A$ and trivially on the residue field of $C$. Let $\pi _ A \in A$ and $\pi _ C \in C$ be uniformizers. Write $\pi _ A = u \pi _ C^ e$ for some unit $u$ in $C$. For $\sigma \in I$ write $\sigma (\pi _ C) = \theta _\sigma \pi _ C$ for some unit $\theta _\sigma $ in $C$. Then we have
\[ \pi _ A = \sigma (\pi _ A) = \sigma (u) (\theta _\sigma \pi _ C)^ e = \sigma (u) \theta _\sigma ^ e \pi _ C^ e = \frac{\sigma (u)}{u} \theta _\sigma ^ e \pi _ A \]
Since $\sigma (u) \equiv u \bmod \mathfrak m_ C$ as $\sigma \in I$ we see that the image $\overline{\theta }_\sigma $ of $\theta _\sigma $ in $\kappa _ C = \kappa (\mathfrak m)$ is an $e$th root of unity. We obtain a map
15.112.5.1
\begin{equation} \label{more-algebra-equation-inertia-character} \theta : I \longrightarrow \mu _ e(\kappa (\mathfrak m)),\quad \sigma \mapsto \overline{\theta }_\sigma \end{equation}
We claim that $\theta $ is a homomorphism of groups and independent of the choice of uniformizer $\pi _ C$. Namely, if $\tau $ is a second element of $I$, then $\tau (\sigma (\pi _ C)) = \tau (\theta _\sigma \pi _ C) = \tau (\theta _\sigma ) \theta _\tau \pi _ C$, hence $\theta _{\tau \sigma } = \tau (\theta _\sigma ) \theta _\tau $ and since $\tau \in I$ we conclude that $\overline{\theta }_{\tau \sigma } = \overline{\theta }_\sigma \overline{\theta }_\tau $. If $\pi '_ C$ is a second uniformizer, then we see that $\pi '_ C = w \pi _ C$ for some unit $w$ of $C$ and $\sigma (\pi '_ C) = w^{-1}\sigma (w)\theta _\sigma \pi '_ C$, hence $\theta '_\sigma = w^{-1}\sigma (w)\theta _\sigma $, hence $\theta '_\sigma $ and $\theta _\sigma $ map to the same element of the residue field as before.
Since $\kappa (\mathfrak m)$ has characteristic $p$, the group $\mu _ e(\kappa (\mathfrak m))$ is cyclic of order at most the prime to $p$ part of $e$ (see Fields, Section 9.17).
Let $P = \mathop{\mathrm{Ker}}(\theta )$. The elements of $P$ are exactly the elements of $D$ acting trivially on $C/\pi _ C^2C \cong B/\mathfrak m^2$. Thus (a) is true. This implies (b) as $P$ is the kernel of the map $D \to \text{Aut}(B/\mathfrak m^2)$. If we can prove (c), then parts (d) and (e) will follow as $I_ t$ will be isomorphic to $\mu _ e(\kappa (\mathfrak m))$ as the arguments above show that $|I_ t| \geq |\mu _ e(\kappa (\mathfrak m))|$.
Thus it suffices to prove that the kernel $P$ of $\theta $ is a $p$-group. Let $\sigma $ be a nontrivial element of the kernel. Then $\sigma - \text{id}$ sends $\mathfrak m_ C^ i$ into $\mathfrak m_ C^{i + 1}$ for all $i$. Let $m$ be the order of $\sigma $. Pick $c \in C$ such that $\sigma (c) \not= c$. Then $\sigma (c) - c \in \mathfrak m_ C^ i$, $\sigma (c) - c \not\in \mathfrak m_ C^{i + 1}$ for some $i$ and we have
\begin{align*} 0 & = \sigma ^ m(c) - c \\ & = \sigma ^ m(c) - \sigma ^{m - 1}(c) + \ldots + \sigma (c) - c \\ & = \sum \nolimits _{j = 0, \ldots , m - 1} \sigma ^ j(\sigma (c) - c) \\ & \equiv m(\sigma (c) - c) \bmod \mathfrak m_ C^{i + 1} \end{align*}
It follows that $p | m$ (or $m = 0$ if $p = 1$). Thus every element of the kernel of $\theta $ has order divisible by $p$, i.e., $\mathop{\mathrm{Ker}}(\theta )$ is a $p$-group.
$\square$
Comments (2)
Comment #3267 by Owen Barrett on
Comment #3362 by Johan on