Brauer groups,embedding problems,and nilpotent groups as Galois groups

Let ℚ _ab denote the maximal abelian extension of the rationals ℚ, and let ℚ_abnil denote the maximal nilpotent extension of ℚ _ab . We prove that for every primep, the free pro-p group on countably many generators is realizable as the Galois group of a regular extension of ℚ_abnil(t). We also prove that ℚ_abnil is not PAC (pseudo-algebraically closed). This paper was inspired by the author's participation in a special year on the arithmetic of fields at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I would like to express my appreciation to the Institute for its hospitality, and to the organizers, especially Moshe Jarden. Partially supported by the Fund for the Promotion of Research at the Technion and by the Technion VPR Fund-Japan Technion Society Research Fund.