On the set of discriminants of quadratic pairs. (Q1428095)

Let \(A\) be a central simple algebra of degree \(n\) over a field \(F\) with an involution \(\sigma\) of the first kind, \(\text{Sym}(A,\sigma)=\{b\in A:\sigma(b)=b\}\) the set of symmetric elements of \(A\), \(\text{Skew}(A,\sigma)=\{b\in A:\sigma(b)=-b\}\) the set of skew-symmetric elements of \(A\), \(\text{Alt}(A,\sigma)=\{b-\sigma(b):b\in A\}\) the set of alternating elements of \(A\) (with respect to \(\sigma\)), and for each \(a\in A\), let \(\text{Prd}_A(a)=X^n-s_1X^{n-1}+s_2X^{n-2}+\dots +(-1)^ns_n\) be the reduced characteristic polynomial of \(a\) (defined, for example, in Sect. 16.1 of \textit{R. S. Pierce} [Associative Algebras. (Springer-Verlag, New York, Heidelberg, Berlin) (1982; Zbl 0497.16001)]), \(\text{Trd}_A(a):=s_1\), \(\text{Srd}_A(a):=s_2\) and \(\text{Nrd}_A(a):=s_n\), respectively, the reduced trace, the second reduced trace and the reduced norm of \(a\). A quadratic pair on \(A\) is a couple \((\tau,f)\), where \(\tau\) is an involution of the first kind on \(A\) and \(f\colon\text{Sym}(A,\tau)\to F\) is an \(F\)-linear mapping, such that \(\dim_F\text{Sym}(A,\tau)=n(n+1)/2\), \(\text{Trd}_A(\text{Skew}(A,\tau))=\{0\}\), and \(f(x+\tau(x))=\text{Trd}_A(x)\), for all \(x\in A\). Henceforth, we assume that \(\text{char}(F)=2\), \(\rho(F)=\{\alpha^2+\alpha:\alpha\in F\}\), \(n\) is even and \(m=n/2\). It is known that then the involution \(\sigma\) is symplectic if and only if \(\text{Trd}_A(\text{Sym}(A,\sigma))=\{0\}\), which holds if and only if \(1\in\text{Alt}(A,\sigma)\) (see \textit{M.-A. Knus, A. Merkurjev, M. Rost} and \textit{J.-P. Tignol} [The book of involutions (Proposition (2.6)), (Am. Math. Soc. Colloq. Publ. 44, AMS, Providence, RI) (1998; Zbl 0955.16001)]). The paper under review shows that if \(\tau\) is a symplectic involution on \(A\), and \(A\) is not a division quaternion \(F\)-algebra, then the set \(\delta(A,\tau)=\{\text{Srd}_A(l)+m(m+1)/2+\rho(F),l+\tau(l)=1\}\) equals the additive quotient group \(F/\rho(F)\).