Potential \(\text Ш\) for abelian varieties (Q640030)

The Tate-Shafarevich group of an abelian variety \(A\) over a number field \(k\) is the group of isomorphism classes of \(k\)-torsors under \(A\) which are everywhere locally solvable. Conjecturally this group is finite. There are many results showing that this group can be arbitrarily large. Recall that a polarization of \(A\) is called strong if it is given by a \(k\)-rational divisor and let \(G_k\) denote the absolute Galois group of \(k\). With this notation the main result of the paper is: Let \(A/k\) be a strongly principally polarized abelian variety over \(k\) such that \(G_k\) acts trivially on the Néron-Severi group. For any prime \(p\) and any integer \(N\), there exists a degree \(p\)-extension \(\ell\) of \(k\) such that the order of the \(p\)-torsion part of the Tate-Shafarevich group of \(A/\ell\) extends \(N\). In fact, the result is slightly stronger showing that the order of a subgroup, namely the potential Tate-Shafarevich group of \(A/\ell\) in \(\ell\) extends \(N\). The assumption on the Néron-Severi group is known to be satisfied if one passes to an extension of a certain known small degree. The proof is based on results of \textit{P. L. Clark} (in particular the preprint ``The period-index problem in WC-groups. II: Abelian varieties'', \url{http://arxiv.org/abs/math/0406135}) which relates the potential Tate-Shafarevich group to the period index problem for torsors under abelian varieties. Some refinements of the theorem and an upper bound are proven which will not be repeated here.