The parametric degree of a rational surface (Q2498492)

The parametric degree of a rational surface is defined as the degree of the polynomials in the smallest possible proper parametrization. The parametric degree is not a geometric but an arithmetic concept since it depends on the choice of the ground field. For the complex case, upper and lower bounds estimating the parametric degree in terms of the degree of the surface are provided in \textit{J. Schicho} [J. Pure Appl. Alg 145, 91--105 (2000; Zbl 0961.14024)]. On the other side, in the absence of base points, the parametric degree is just the square root of the degree of the surface. However this formula does not tell too much about the parametric degree since the number of base points can be much larger than the degree. In this paper, the author introduces two geometric invariants of a rational surface, namely level and keel. These numbers provide nice linear upper and lower bounds for the parametric degree. In particular, level and keel determine the parametric degree up to a multiplicative factor of \(2\), independent on the choice of the ground field. We can therefore say that the parametric degree depends on the choice of the ground field, as this choice can change by a factor of at most \(2\). From this result, one deduces that the problem of rationality is decidable over any perfect field with decidable first order theory. More precisely, one computes a parametrization over the algebraic closure. If it is of degree \(d\), then, by the result presented in this paper, the surface is rational if and only if there is a parametrization of degree at most \(2d\). For a fixed surface, this question can be formulated as a first order sentence.