How often can a finite group be realized as a Galois group over a field?

Abstract:

Let G be any finite group and any class of fields. By we denote the minimal number of realizations of G as a Galois group over some field from the class . For G abelian and the class of algebraic extensions of ℚ we give an explicit formula for . Similarly we treat the case of an abelian p-group G and the class which is conjectured to be the class of all fields of characteristic ≠p for which the Galois group of the maximal p-extension is finitely generated. For non-abelian groups G we offer a variety of sporadic results.