An introduction to $p$-adic $L$-functions

Joaquín Rodrigues Jacinto, Chris Williams

Published 2023-09-27Version 1

In these expository notes, we give an introduction to $p$-adic $L$-functions and the foundations of Iwasawa theory. Firstly, we give an (analytic) measure-theoretic construction of Kubota and Leopoldt's $p$-adic interpolation of the Riemann zeta function, a $p$-adic analytic encoding of Kummer's congruences. Second, we give Coleman's (arithmetic) construction of the $p$-adic Riemann zeta function via cyclotomic units. Finally, we describe Iwasawa's (algebraic) construction via Galois modules over the Iwasawa algebra. The Iwasawa Main conjecture, now a theorem due to Mazur and Wiles, says that these constructions agree. We will state the conjecture precisely, and give a proof when $p$ is a Vandiver prime (which conjecturally covers every prime). Throughout, we try to indicate how the various constructions and arguments have been generalised, and how they connect to more modern research topics.