Cohomological invariants for central simple algebras of degree 8 and exponent 2 (Q2162762)

The decomposability of central simple algebras of degree 8 and exponent 2 has been the subject of several works in the last two decades. In [\textit{D. Barry}, Math. Z. 276, No. 3--4, 1113--1132 (2014; Zbl 1312.16013)] it was shown that over fields of characteristic not 2, if the cohomological 2-dimension is 2 then the algebra decomposes, and indecomposable algebras were constructed over fields of cohomological 2-dimension 3. In the paper under discussion, a cohomological invariant is defined for \(F\)-algebras \(D\) split by a fixed tri-quadratic extension \(F[\sqrt{a},\sqrt{b},\sqrt{c}]\). This invariant is a sort of refinement of the \(\delta\)-invariant defined by Barry for \(D_{F[\sqrt{c}]}\), which in turn is a refinement of the \(\Delta\)-invariant defined in [\textit{S. Garibaldi} et al., Pure Appl. Math. Q. 5, No. 1, 349--374 (2009; Zbl 1183.11020)] for algebras of degree 8 and exponent 2 without fixing any given splitting field. The new invariant is trivial if and only if \(D_{F[\sqrt{ab},\sqrt{c}]}\) is Brauer equivalent to a restriction of an \(F\)-quaternion algebra (Proposition 3.1), and the author uses this invariant in constructing indecomposable algebras of degree 8 and exponent 2 over fields of characteristic not 2 and cohomological 2-dimension 3 (Theorem 4.2).