On the indecomposability of a remarkable new family of modules appearing in Galois theory

A powerful new perspective in the analysis of absolute Galois groups has recently emerged from the study of Galois modules related to classical parameterizing spaces of certain Galois extensions. The recurring trend in these decompositions is their stunning simplicity: almost all summands are free over some quotient ring. The non-free summands which appear are exceptional not only because they are different in form, but because they play the key role in controlling arithmetic conditions that allow the remaining summands to be easily described. In this way, these exceptional summands are the lynchpin for a bevy of new properties of absolute Galois groups that have been gleaned from these surprising decompositions.