Essential dimension of central simple algebras. (Q713360)

Let \(F\) be a base field, and let \(\mathcal F\colon Fields/F\to Sets\) be a functor from the category of field extensions of \(F\) to the category of sets. An element \(\alpha\in\mathcal F(E)\) is said to be defined over a subfield \(K\) of \(E\) if \(\alpha\) is in the image of the morphism \(\mathcal F(K)\to\mathcal F(E)\). The essential dimension \(\text{ed}^{\mathcal F}(\alpha)\) of \(\alpha\) is the minimum of the transcendence degrees of \(K\) over \(F\) where \(K\) runs over all fields of definition of \(\alpha\). If \(p\) is a prime, the essential \(p\)-dimension \(\text{ed}^{\mathcal F}_p(\alpha)\) of \(\alpha\) is the minimum of \(\text{ed}^{\mathcal F}(\alpha_{E'})\) where \(E'\) runs over all prime-to-\(p\) extensions of \(E\). The essential \(p\)-dimension \(\text{ed}_p(\mathcal F)\) of \(\mathcal F\) is the supremum of \(\text{ed}^{\mathcal F}_p(\alpha)\) for \(\alpha\in\mathcal F(E)\) and \(E\) an extension of \(F\). Let \(m,n\) be positive integers with \(m\) dividing \(n\). The functor \(Alg_{n,m}\) is defined as the functor that takes a field extension \(E\) of \(F\) to the set of isomorphism classes of central simple \(E\)-algebras of degree \(n\) and period dividing \(m\). In the paper under review, the authors give lower and upper bounds for the essential \(p\)-dimension of this functor when \(p\) is different from \(\text{char}(F)\). Recall that if \(p^r\) and \(p^s\) are the largest powers of \(p\) dividing \(n\) and \(m\) respectively, then we have \(\text{ed}_p(Alg_{n,m})=\text{ed}_p(Alg_{p^r,p^s})\), so it is sufficient to consider \(\text{ed}_p(Alg_{p^r,p^s})\). One then has the inequality \((r-1)2^{r-1}\leq\text{ed}_p(Alg_{p^r,p^s})\leq p^{2r-2}+p^{r-s}\) if \(p=2\) and \(s=1\) and \((r-1)p^r+p^{r-s}\leq\text{ed}_p(Alg_{p^r,p^s})\leq p^{2r-2}+p^{r-s}\) otherwise. The key points in the proof are as follows. First, the lower bound for the essential \(p\)-dimension of \(Alg_{p^r,p^s}\) is expressed in terms of the essential \(p\)-dimension of a certain algebraic torus. Second, a result of \textit{R. Lötscher, M. MacDonald, A. Meyer} and \textit{Z. Reichstein} [``Essential dimension of algebraic tori'', J. Reine Angew. Math. (to appear)] is used to calculate the essential \(p\)-dimension of this torus. Finally, to prove the upper bound, the authors prove an inequality that bounds \(\text{ed}_p(Alg_{p^r,p^s})\) by \(\text{ed}_p(Alg_{p^r})=\text{ed}_p(Alg_{p^r,p^r})\) and use a result of \textit{A. Ruozzi} [J. Algebra 328, No. 1, 488-494 (2011; Zbl 1252.16016)] to obtain the final inequality. A corollary of this result is that if \(\text{char}(F)\neq 2\), then \(\text{ed}_2(Alg_{8,2})=\text{ed}(Alg_{8,2})=8\). This proves the existence of a central simple algebra of degree 8 and period 2 over a field \(F\) which cannot be written as the tensor product of three quaternion algebras.