Extensions of unipotent groups, Massey products and Galois theory (Q2324583)

Let \(\bar{F}\) be a separable closure of a field \(F\) and let \(\mathrm{Gal} (\bar{F}/F)\) be the absolute Galois group of \(F\). The \textit{Massey vanishing conjecture} states that for an arbitrary field \(F\), all the higher Massey products \(\langle x_1, x_2, \dots, x_n \rangle \subset H^2(\mathrm{Gal} (\bar{F}/F), \mathbb{Z}_p)\) of elements \(x_1, x_2, \dots, x_n\) of \(H^1(\mathrm{Gal} (\bar{F}/F), \mathbb{Z}_p)\) are trivial whenever they are non-empty. \textit{M. J. Hopkins} and \textit{K. G. Wickelgren} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 219, No. 5, 1304--1319 (2015; Zbl 1323.55014)] showed that, given \(x_1, x_2, x_3 \in H^1 (\mathrm{Gal} (\bar{F}/F), \mathbb{Z}/p)\), the triple Massey product \(\langle x_1, x_2, x_3 \rangle\) vanishes whenever it is non-empty, where \(F\) is a number field and \(p=2\). This result was generalized to arbitrary fields and \(p =2\) by [\textit{J. Mináč} and \textit{N. D. Tân}, J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 19, No. 1, 255--284 (2017; Zbl 1372.12004)], and to arbitrary primes \(p\) with \(F\) a global field by [\textit{J. Mináč} and \textit{N. D. Tân}, Doc. Math. 20, 1467--1480 (2015; Zbl 1372.12003)]. Let \(\mathbb{U}_n (\mathbb{F}_p)\) be the group of unipotent \(n\times n\)-matrices with entries in the field \(\mathbb{F}_p\) of \(p\) elements, where \(p\) is a prime. Let \(G\) be any finite group, and suppose that it is equipped with distinguished cohomology classes \(s_1, s_2, \dots, s_n \in H^1 (G,\mathbb{F}_p)\). For any profinite group \(\Gamma\) and classes \(\chi_1, \chi_2,\dots,\chi_n \in H^1 (\Gamma, \mathbb{F}_p)\), we say that {the Massey product of \(\chi_1, \chi_2,\dots,\chi_n\) vanishes in the sense of \(G\)} when there exists \(\psi : \Gamma \rightarrow G\) such that \(\psi^* (s_i) = \chi_i\). In this paper, the authors develop a necessary and sufficient condition for the vanishing of four-fold Massey products in mod \(p\) Galois cohomology. More precisely, the authors show that if \(F\) is a field containing a primitive \(p\)-th root of unity \(\zeta_p\) and if \(a,b,c,d \in F^\times\), then the following assertions are equivalent when \(p =2\), or when either \(a\) (resp. \(d\)) and \(b\) (resp. \(c\)) are linearly independent in \(F^\times/F^{\times p}\), or \(a\) (resp. \(d\)) is a \(p\)-th power: (1) The Massey product of \(a,b,c,d\) vanishes in the sense of \(\widetilde{\mathbb{U}}_5 (\mathbb{F}_p)\), a finite group which has \({\mathbb{U}}_5 (\mathbb{F}_p)\) as a quotient. (2) One can find \(B \in F[\sqrt[p]{a}]\) such that \({\mathrm N}_{F[\sqrt[p]{a}]/F}(B) = bf_1^p\) for some \(f_1 \in F^\times\) and \(C \in F[\sqrt[p]{d}]\) such that \({\mathrm N}_{F[\sqrt[p]{d}]/F}(C) = cf_2^p\) for some \(f_2 \in F^\times\) with the property that the cup products \((\sigma(B), \tau(C))_{F[\sqrt[p]{a}, \sqrt[p]{d}]}\) are zero for any \(\sigma \in \mathrm{Gal}(F[\sqrt[p]{a}]/F)\) and any \(\tau \in \mathrm{Gal}(F[\sqrt[p]{d}]/F)\). Moreover, the authors show that if \(F\) is a local field containing a primitive \(p^2\)-th root of unity, and if \(a,b,c,d \in F^\times\) satisfy the suitable conditions, then the following conditions are equivalent: (1) The Massey product \(\langle a,b,c,d\rangle\) is non-empty. (2) \(\langle a,b,c,d\rangle\) vanishes. (3) \(\langle a,b,c,d\rangle\) vanishes in the sense of \(\widetilde{\mathbb{U}}_5 (\mathbb{F}_p)\). (4) \((a,b)_F = (b,c)_F = (c,d)_F = 0\).