Explicit formulas for Hecke Gauss sums in quadratic number fields

Abstract

We derive an explicit formula for Hecke Gauss sums of quadratic number fields. As an immediate consequence we obtain a quadratic reciprocity law in quadratic number fields which generalizes the classical one given by Hecke. The proofs use, apart from the well-known formulas for ordinary Gauss sums, only elementary algebraic manipulations.