Birational geometry of linear algebraic groups and Galois modules (Q1281941)

The paper under review is a survey in birational geometry of linear algebraic groups focused on arithmetical applications. The main topics are forms and Galois cohomology, Picard group and Brauer group, birational properties of algebraic tori, arithmetic of algebraic groups, Tamagawa numbers, \(R\)-equivalence, projective toric varieties, invariants of finite transformation groups. The main tool is the action of the absolute Galois group of the ground field \(k\) on \(\overline X= X\times _k\bar k\) (and on various objects related to \(\overline X\)). It turns out that the arising Galois modules carry important information on birational and arithmetic properties of \(X\). This approach led to solution of some long-standing problems in Diophantine geometry (E.~Noether's problem on rationality of the field of invariants of a permutation group, Zariski's problem on stably rational varieties).