The set of nonsquares in a number field is diophantine (Q1012975)

The result stated in the title means that given a number field \(k\), there is an algebraic family of varieties \((V_t)_{t\in k}\) such that \(V_t\) has a \(k\)-point if and only if \(t\) is not a square. This result is deduced in an ingenious way from the following fact: there are at most finitely many classes in \(k^{\times}/k^{\times2}\) such that there is a Brauer--Manin obstruction to the Hasse principle for the conic bundle \(X\) given by \(y^2-ax^2=P(x)\) (this can be viewed as an analogue of the classical fact that for an integral indefinite ternary quadratic form \(q\) the set of nonzero integers represented by \(q\) over \(\mathbb Z_p\) for all \(p\) but not over \(\mathbb Z\) fall into finitely many classes in \(\mathbb Q^{\times}/\mathbb Q^{\times 2}\); note a recent interpretation in terms of the integral Brauer--Manin obstruction given by \textit{J.-L.~Colliot-Thélène} and \textit{F.~Xu} [Compos. Math. 145, 309--363 (2009; Zbl 1190.11036)]. The proof of the main theorem relies on the particular case of the above statement when \(P(x)\) is of degree 3 or 4 (Châtelet surface), combined with another result of the author [J. Eur. Math. Soc. 11, 529--543 (2009; Zbl 1183.14032)] which states that over any number field \(k\) there is a Châtelet surface violating the Hasse principle. An additional ingredient which may be of independent interest is the following general fact: for any \(k\)-definable subset \(A\) of \(k_v^n\) (i.e., the subset defined by some first-order formula in the language of fields involving only constants from \(k\)), the intersection \(A\cap k^n\) is diophantine over \(k\) (here \(k_v\) stands for a nonarchimedean completion of \(k\)).