Birationally isotrivial fiber spaces (Q253141)

Let \(k\) be an algebraically closed field which has infinite transcendence degree over the prime field. The paper under review contains two proofs of the following result: a flat family of irreducible varieties over \(k\) that are all birational to each other is birationally isotrivial, that is, modulo a finite base change the family is birational to a product. The first proof relies on a thorough study of some spaces of birational maps, which is of independent interest and on the fact that \(k\) is uncountable. The second proof uses the existence of generic points in the sense of van der Waerden.