We study the Galois module structure of the class groups of the Artin–Schreier extensions K over k of extension degree p, where
$k:={\mathbb F}_q(T)$
is the rational function field and p is a prime number. The structure of the p-part
$Cl_K(p)$
of the ideal class group of K as a finite G-module is determined by the invariant
${\lambda }_n$
, where
$G:=\operatorname {\mathrm {Gal}}(K/k)=\langle {\sigma } \rangle $
is the Galois group of K over k, and
${\lambda }_n = \dim _{{\mathbb F}_p}(Cl_K(p)^{({\sigma }-1)^{n-1}}/Cl_K(p)^{({\sigma }-1)^{n}})$
. We find infinite families of the Artin–Schreier extensions over k whose ideal class groups have guaranteed prescribed
${\lambda }_n$
-rank for
$1 \leq n \leq 3$
. We find an algorithm for computing
${\lambda }_3$
-rank of
$Cl_K(p)$
. Using this algorithm, for a given integer
$t \ge 2$
, we get infinite families of the Artin–Schreier extensions over k whose
${\lambda }_1$
-rank is t,
${\lambda }_2$
-rank is
$t-1$
, and
${\lambda }_3$
-rank is
$t-2$
. In particular, in the case where
$p=2$
, for a given positive integer
$t \ge 2$
, we obtain an infinite family of the Artin–Schreier quadratic extensions over k whose
$2$
-class group rank (resp.
$2^2$
-class group rank and
$2^3$
-class group rank) is exactly t (resp.
$t-1$
and
$t-2$
). Furthermore, we also obtain a similar result on the
$2^n$
-ranks of the divisor class groups of the Artin–Schreier quadratic extensions over k.