Severi-Brauer varieties of semidirect product algebras. (Q1419688)

Let \(A\) and \(B\) be central simple algebras (of finite dimensions) over a field \(F\). It has been established by \textit{S. A. Amitsur} [see Ann. Math. (2) 62, 8-43 (1955; Zbl 0066.28604)] that the equivalence classes of \(A\) and \(B\) over \(F\) generate one and the same subgroup of the Brauer group \(\text{Br}(F)\), provided that the function fields \(F(A)\) and \(F(B)\) of the Severi-Brauer varieties corresponding to \(A\) and \(B\) are isomorphic as \(F\)-algebras. The conjecture that if \([A:F]=[B:F]:=n\), then this implication is in fact an equivalence dates back to Chatelet and Amitsur. It is proved in a number of important special cases, such as the one in which \(A\) is a cyclic \(F\)-algebra, but generally, remains open. The paper under review considers this conjecture in the special case where \(A\) possesses a maximal subfield \(K\) whose normal closure over \(F\) equals the compositum \(K\Phi\), for some finite Galois extension \(\Phi\) of \(F\) in \(E\) of degree \([\Phi:F]\) relatively prime to \(n\). In particular, its main result proves the validity of the conjecture, in case \(n\) is prime or \([\Phi:F]=2\).