Pathologies of the Brauer-Manin obstruction (Q269881)

Let \(k\) be a number field and let \(X\) be a proper smooth \(k\)-variety. In the 1970s, Manin defined a pairing between the set of adèlic points \(X(\mathbb{A}_{k})\) and the Brauer group \(\text{Br}(X)\) to explain the failure of the Hasse principle for rational points on \(X\): if the subset of adelic points \(X(\mathbb{A}_{k})^{\text{Br}}\) that are orthogonal to the Brauer group is empty then there are no \(k\)-rational points on \(X\). In [Ann. Math. (2) 171, No. 3, 2157--2169 (2010; Zbl 1284.11096)], \textit{B. Poonen} constructed 3-dimensional examples \(X\) such that the failure of Hasse principle can not be explained by such an obstruction even applied to étale covers. They are fibrations in Châtelet surfaces over curves that possess only finitely many \(k\)-rational points, over which the fibres violate the Hasse principle. A similar idea was also used to produce 2-dimensional examples by \textit{Y. Harpaz} and \textit{A. N. Skorobogatov} [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 47, No. 4, 765--778 (2014; Zbl 1308.14024)]. In the paper under review, the authors produce more examples: {\parindent=0.7cm\begin{itemize}\item[--] a conic bundle surface \(X\to E\) over a real quadratic field \(k\), where \(E\) is an elliptic curve such that \(E(k)=\{0\}\); \item[--] a 3-fold over an arbitrary real number field \(k\), which is a family \(X\to C\) of 2-dimensional quadrics parameterised by a curve \(C\) with exactly one \(k\)-point; \item[--] a 3-fold over an arbitrary number field \(k\), which is a family \(X\to C\) of geometrically rational surfaces parameterised by a curve with exactly one \(k\)-point, the fiber above which is singular. \end{itemize}} The main argument is similar to Poonen's. The new idea is that to guarantee the existence of local points orthogonal to the Brauer group, they make use of either a deformation for a real place or a deformation along a rational curve defined over a non-archimedean completion of \(k\). Furthermore, in [Am. J. Math. 139, No. 2, 417--431 (2017; Zbl 1360.14068)], \textit{A. Smeets} has constructed examples with trivial Albanese variety (even simply connected examples if the abc conjecture is true).