Let O be the ring of integers of a number field K. For an O-algebra R which is torsion free as an O-module we define what we mean by a Lambda_O-ring structure on R. We can determine whether a finite etale K-algebra E with Lambda_O-ring structure has an integral model in terms of a Deligne-Ribet monoid of K. This a commutative monoid whose invertible elements form a ray class group.
If $L/K$ is a finite Galois extension of local fields, we say that the valuation criterion $VC(L/K)$ holds if there is an integer $d$ such that every element $x in L$ with valuation $d$ generates a normal basis for $L/K$. Answering a question of Byott and Elder, we first prove that $VC(L/K)$ holds if and only if the tamely ramified part of the extension $L/K$ is trivial and every non-zero $K[G]$-submodule of $L$ contains a unit. Moreover, the integer $d$ can take one value modulo $[L:K]$ only, namely $-d_{L/K}-1$, where $d_{L/K}$ is the valuation of the different of $L/K$. When $K$ has positive characteristic, we thus recover a recent result of Elder and Thomas, proving that $VC(L/K)$ is valid for all extensions $L/K$ in this context. When $char{;K}=0$, we identify all abelian extensions $L/K$ for which $VC(L/K)$ is true, using algebraic arguments. These extensions are determined by the behaviour of their cyclic Kummer subextensions.
We show that any Lambda-ring, in the sense of Riemann-Roch theory, which is finite etale over the rational numbers and has an integral model as a Lambda-ring is contained in a product of cyclotomic fields. In fact, we show that the category of them is described in a Galois-theoretic way in terms of the monoid of pro-finite integers under multiplication and the cyclotomic character. We also study the maximality of these integral models and give a more precise, integral version of the result above. These results reveal an interesting relation between Lambda-rings and class field theory.
