On the cycle class map for zero-cycles over local fields

We study the Chow group of zero-cycles of smooth projective varieties over local and strictly local fields. We prove in particular the injectivity of the cycle class map to integral l-adic cohomology for a large class of surfaces with positive geometric genus, over local fields of residue characteristic different from l. The same statement holds for semistable K3 surfaces defined over C((t)), but does not hold in general for surfaces over strictly local fields.Comment: 37 pages (with an appendix by Spencer Bloch); bibliography updated, final versio

The period-index problem for real surfaces

We study when the period and the index of a class in the Brauer group of the function field of a real algebraic surface coincide. We prove that it is always the case if the surface has no real points (more generally, if the class vanishes in restriction to the real points of the locus where it is well-defined), and give a necessary and sufficient condition for unramified classes. As an application, we show that the u-invariant of the function field of a real algebraic surface is equal to 4, answering questions of Lang and Pfister. Our strategy relies on a new Hodge-theoretic approach to de Jong's period-index theorem on complex surfaces.Comment: 39 pages, minor modification