Linkage of Pfister forms over C(x1,…,xn)\mathbb{C}(x_1,\ldots,x_n)

In this note, we prove the existence of a set of $n$-fold Pfister forms of cardinality $2^n$ over $\mathbb{C}(x_1,\dots,x_n)$ which do not share a common $(n-1)$-fold factor. This gives a negative answer to a question raised by Becher. The main tools are the existence of the dyadic valuation on the complex numbers and recent results on symmetric bilinear over fields of characteristic 2

The Arason invariant of orthogonal involutions of degree 12 and 8, and quaternionic subgroups of the Brauer group

Using the Rost invariant for torsors under Spin groups one may define an analogue of the Arason invariant for certain hermitian forms and orthogonal involutions. We calculate this invariant explicitly in various cases, and use it to associate to every orthogonal involution with trivial discriminant and trivial Clifford invariant over a central simple algebra of even co-index a cohomology class $f_3$ of degree 3 with $\mu_2$ coefficients. This invariant $f_3$ is the double of any representative of the Arason invariant; it vanishes when the algebra has degree at most 10, and also when there is a quadratic extension of the center that simultaneously splits the algebra and makes the involution hyperbolic. The paper provides a detailed study of both invariants, with particular attention to the degree 12 case, and to the relation with the existence of a quadratic splitting field.Comment: A mistake pointed out by A. Sivatski in Section 5.3 has been corrected in the new version of this preprin

Orthogonal involutions on central simple algebras and function fields of Severi-Brauer varieties

An orthogonal involution $\sigma$ on a central simple algebra $A$, after scalar extension to the function field $\mathcal{F}(A)$ of the Severi--Brauer variety of $A$, is adjoint to a quadratic form $q_\sigma$ over $\mathcal{F}(A)$, which is uniquely defined up to a scalar factor. Some properties of the involution, such as hyperbolicity, and isotropy up to an odd-degree extension of the base field, are encoded in this quadratic form, meaning that they hold for the involution $\sigma$ if and only if they hold for $q_\sigma$. As opposed to this, we prove that there exists non-totally decomposable orthogonal involutions that become totally decomposable over $\mathcal{F}(A)$, so that the associated form $q_\sigma$ is a Pfister form. We also provide examples of nonisomorphic involutions on an index $2$ algebra that yield similar quadratic forms, thus proving that the form $q_\sigma$ does not determine the isomorphism class of $\sigma$, even when the underlying algebra has index $2$. As a consequence, we show that the $e_3$ invariant for orthogonal involutions is not classifying in degree $12$, and does not detect totally decomposable involutions in degree $16$, as opposed to what happens for quadratic forms

Generic algebras with involution of degree 8m

The centers of the generic central simple algebras with involution are interesting objects in the theory of central simple algebras. These fields also arise as invariant fields for linear actions of projective orthogonal or symplectic groups. In this paper, we prove that when the characteristic is not 2, these fields are retract rational, in the case the degree is $8m$ and $m$ is odd. We achieve this by proving the equivalent lifting property for the class of central simple algebras of degree $8m$ with involution. A companion paper ([S3]) deals with the case of $m$, $2m$ and $4m$ where stronger rationality results are proven.Comment: 7 page

Excellence of function fields of conics

For every generalized quadratic form or hermitian form over a division algebra, the anisotropic kernel of the form obtained by scalar extension to the function field of a smooth projective conic is defined over the field of constants. The proof does not require any hypothesis on the characteristic

Springer's theorem for tame quadratic forms over Henselian fields

A quadratic form over a Henselian-valued field of arbitrary residue characteristic is tame if it becomes hyperbolic over a tamely ramified extension. The Witt group of tame quadratic forms is shown to be canonically isomorphic to the Witt group of graded quadratic forms over the graded ring associated to the filtration defined by the valuation, hence also isomorphic to a direct sum of copies of the Witt group of the residue field indexed by the value group modulo 2

Solving quadratic equations in many variables

Fields are number systems in which every linear equation has a solution, such as the set of all rational numbers Q or the set of all real numbers R. All fields have the same properties in relation with systems of linear equations, but quadratic equations behave differently from field to field. Is there a field in which every quadratic equation in five variables has a solution, but some quadratic equation in four variables has no solution? The answer is in this snapshot