Arithmetic discriminants and horizontal intersections (Q2277041)

A notion of discriminant is defined over local and global fields, which agrees with the classical notion in the non-archimedean case. This is used to define a new pairing on curves over local and global fields which at finite places gives the intersection number of horizontal divisors on a corresponding surface, but which at infinite places is not the same as Arakelov's pairing. By combining this horizontal pairing with a pairing via Green's functions, a new divisor group for surfaces is constructed, which agrees with the classical divisor group in the function field case. But in the number field case, it is an enlargement of Arakelov's divisor group in which infinite fibres may be reducible.