Lower bounds on the $\ell$-rank of ideal class groups

Abstract: For a prime number $\ell$ and an extension of number fields $K/F$, we prove new lower bounds on the $\ell$-rank of the ideal class group of $K$ based on prime ramification in $K/F$. Unlike related results from the literature, our bound is supported on prime ideals in $F$ over which at least one (rather than each) prime in $K$ has ramification index divisible by $\ell$. This bound holds with a proviso on the Galois group of the normal closure of $K/F$, which is satisfied by towers of Galois extensions, intermediate fields in nilpotent extensions, and intermediate fields in dihedral extensions of degree $8n$, to name a few. We also use our lower bound to prove a new density result on number fields with infinite class field towers.