Adjoint groups over \(\mathbb Q_p(X)\) and R-equivalence. (Q2349951)

Let \(X\) be an algebraic variety defined over a field \(K\) and denote by \(X(K)/R\) the set of \(K\)-rational points of \(X\) modulo rational equivalence as originally defined by \textit{Yu. I. Manin} [Cubic forms. Algebra, geometry, arithmetic. Transl. from the Russian by M. Hazewinkel. 2nd ed. North-Holland Mathematical Library, Vol. 4. Amsterdam-New York-Oxford: North-Holland (1986; Zbl 0582.14010)]. In this paper, the authors consider absolutely simple adjoint linear algebraic groups \(G\). By Weil's classification, these groups are of type \(A_n\), \(B_n\), \(C_n\) or \(D_n\) (non-trialitarian in case \(D_4\)). Now \(G(K)/R\) is naturally equipped with a group structure and one would like to know if this group is trivial. \textit{A. S. Merkurjev} [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 84, 189-213 (1996; Zbl 0884.20029)] showed that this is so if \(G\) is of inner type \(A_n\) or of type \(B_n\), but that triviality generally fails for type \(D_n\) (\(n\geq 3\)). In the present paper, the authors consider the situation where \(K\) is a function field of a smooth geometrically integral curve over a nondyadic local field. They show that triviality holds over such fields if the absolutely simple adjoint group is of type \(^2A_n^*\) (i.e. where the underlying central simple algebra has square-free index), \(C_n\) and \(D_n\) (non-trialitarian in case \(D_4\)). The main ingredients in the proofs are Merkurjev's description of \(G(K)/R\) as the quotient group of similitudes of a certain Hermitian form [loc. cit.], the fact that the \(u\)-invariant of such a field \(K\) is at most \(8\) due to \textit{R. Parimala} and \textit{V. Suresh} [Ann. Math. (2) 172, No. 2, 1391-1405 (2010; Zbl 1208.11053)], the first author's own classification results for Hermitian forms over algebras with involution [J. Algebra 385, 294-313 (2013; Zbl 1292.11056)], and a theorem proved also in the present paper and of interest in its own right, namely, that the Rost invariant of \(SL_1(A)\) for a central simple algebra \(A\) of index at most \(4\) over such a field \(K\) has trivial kernel.