On the distribution of shapes of sextic pure number fields

Abstract

The shape of a number field $K$ of degree $n$ is defined as the equivalence class of the lattice of integers with respect to linear operations that are composites of rotations, reflections, and positive scalar dilations. The shape is a point in the space of shapes ${\mathcal{S}}_{n-1}$, which is the double quotient ${\mathrm{GL}}_{n-1}(\mathbb{Z})\backslash {\mathrm{GL}}_{n-1}(\mathbb{R})/{\mathrm{GO}}_{n-1}(\mathbb{R})$. We investigate the distribution of shapes of pure sextic number fields $K=\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt[6]{m})$, ordered by absolute discriminant. Such fields are partitioned into $20$ distinct Types determined by local conditions at $2$ and $3$, and an explicit integral basis is given in each case. For each Type, the shape of $K$ admits an explicit description in terms of shape parameters. Fixing the sign of $m$ and a Type, we prove that the corresponding shapes are equidistributed along a translated torus orbit in the space of shapes. The limiting distribution is given by an explicit measure expressed as the product of a continuous measure and a discrete measure.

Version 1: 35 pages