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Let $p$ be an odd prime and let $n\geq 1$. Set $K=\mathbb{Q}_p(\zeta_{p^n})$, $L=\mathbb{Q}_p(\sqrt[p^n]{p})$, and $M=KL$. I claim that $M$ is totally ramified of degree $\phi(p^n)p^n$ (the proof simultaneously shows that $K$ and $L$ are linearly disjoint). Assume not, then there exists an unramified extension $W\subseteq M$ with $[W:\mathbb{Q}_p]=f>1$ ($f$ being necessarily a power of $p$). By the structure theorem for unramified extensions of $\mathbb{Q}_p$, we know that $W=\mathbb{Q}_p(\zeta_{r})$ where $r=p^f-1$. The extension $K$ is totally ramified over $\mathbb{Q}_p$ and therefore linearly disjoint from $W$. We thus have $$ \mathbb{Q}_p\subseteq K \subsetneqq KW \subseteq M=K(\sqrt[p^n]{p}) $$ By Galois theory, since $f>1$, it follows (this also holds true if $K$ and $L$ are not linearly disjoint) that $\sqrt[p]{p}\in KW$ and therefore $\mathbb{Q}_p(\zeta_p,\sqrt[p]{p})\subseteq KW$. But $KW$ is abelian over $\mathbb{Q}_p$ and $\mathbb{Q}_p(\zeta_p,\sqrt[p]{p})$ is not. Contradiction.

Q1: How to construct (systematically in $p$ and $n$) an explicit uniformizer of $M$ (for $n>1$ of course)?

Q2 Is it possible to find some uniformizer $\pi'$ of $K$ (so $v_p(\pi')=\frac{1}{\phi(p^n)}$) such that $K(\sqrt[p^n]{\pi'})=M$ (for $n>1$ of course) ?

Remark: Note that Q2 is equivalent to find (by Lagrange's resolvent) $\beta\in M$ such that $$ \sum_{j=0}^{p^n-1} \sigma^j(\beta)\zeta_{p^n}^j, $$ is a uniformizer of $M$. Here $\sigma$ is a generator of $Gal(M/K)$. This seems to boil down to some difficult linear algebra.

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    $\begingroup$ On Q1 only: I’ve never been able to answer somewhat more difficult questions of this type, but for what I wanted, I found that I didn’t need to hold a uniformizer of $M$ in my hand. Is Q1 motivated by some other question, or is it for you simply an intrisically interesting question? $\endgroup$
    – Lubin
    Commented Sep 4, 2014 at 14:43
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    $\begingroup$ Yes Q1 is actually motivated by a problem of one of my colleagues, and yes, most likely he won't need to hold an explicit uniformizer. Nevertheless, I thought the question so natural that I could not resist to post it on MO. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 4, 2014 at 14:48
  • $\begingroup$ As for Q1 I was still thinking about it. As a first approach I tried to pin down a uniformizer $\varpi$ of $K$ such that $M\subseteq L_{\varpi,p^n}$ (in Lubin-Tate's notation). My second step would be to understand how does $\mathrm{Gal}(K/\mathbb{Q}_p)$ act on $G_{\varpi,p^n}$ in order to identify the stable $\mathbb{Z}/p^n\mathbb{Z}$-lines with respect to this action, since $\mathrm{Gal}(M/K)$ would be one of those. But I am stuck on the first point... $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 4, 2014 at 16:50

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I think the answer to question Q2 is no. Indeed, Lemma 3 of Birch's paper in Cassels and Fröhlich tells us that two extensions $k(\sqrt[n]{a}),k(\sqrt[n]{b})$ of a field $k$ (of characteristic prime to $n$, and) containing a primitive $n$-th root of unity, coincide if and only if $$ a=b^r\cdot c^n $$ with $(r,n)=1$. In your setting, if we had $K(\sqrt[p^n]{p})=K(\sqrt[p^n]{\pi'})$ for a suitable uniformiser $\pi'$ of $K$, taking $\pi'$-adic valuations would give $$ \phi(p^n)\equiv r\pmod{p^n} $$ for a suitable $r$ prime to $p$, which is impossible.

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I gave this question to a student as a summer project. Thanks to Mercio's answer to a similar question posted on StackExchange (link: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/954731/ ) we have worked out how to find explicit uniformizers of $\mathbb{Q}_p(\zeta_{p^2},\sqrt[p]{p})$ for all odd p. We have written a short article on our calculations, which can be found here: http://arxiv.org/abs/1912.01656 Please let us know if you have any suggestions and/or comments for us.

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