Annihilating polynomials for quadratic forms (Q1348725)

The Witt ring \(W(F)\) of quadratic forms over \(F\) is integral in the sense that each element is annihilated by some monic polynomial with integer coefficients. In [Invent. Math. 90, 631-633 (1987; Zbl 0629.10017)] the author defined polynomials \(p_n(x)\) such that \(p_n(\varphi)=0\) in \(W(F)\) for any nonsingular form \(\varphi\) of dimension \(n\) over any field \(F\). These were the first examples of polynomials that annihilated particular classes of quadratic forms over \(F\). Since that time many examples of such polynomials have been found. The paper is a short survey of the main results on this subject.