Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 January 2019
Let K be an imaginary quadratic field different from $\open{Q}(\sqrt {-1})$ and $\open{Q}(\sqrt {-3})$. For a positive integer N, let KN be the ray class field of K modulo $N {\cal O}_K$. By using the congruence subgroup ± Γ1(N) of SL2(ℤ), we construct an extended form class group whose operation is basically the Dirichlet composition, and explicitly show that this group is isomorphic to the Galois group Gal(KN/K). We also present an algorithm to find all distinct form classes and show how to multiply two form classes. As an application, we describe Gal(KNab/K) in terms of these extended form class groups for which KNab is the maximal abelian extension of K unramified outside prime ideals dividing $N{\cal O}_K$.