On the splitting of quasilinear \(p\)-forms (Q274654)

In the present paper, the author continues his study of so-called quasilinear \(p\)-forms that he began in [Compos. Math. 149, No. 3, 333--355 (2013; Zbl 1315.11025)] building on work by the reviewer [\textit{D. W. Hoffmann}, Contemp. Math. 344, 135--183 (2004; Zbl 1074.11023)]. Let \(F\) be a field of characteristic \(p>0\). A quasilinear \(p\)-form (or \(p\)-form for short) on a finite-dimensional \(F\)-vector space \(V\) is a map \(\phi:V\to F\) satisfying \(\phi(\lambda v)=\lambda^p\phi(v)\) and \(\phi(v+w)=\phi(v)+\phi(w)\) for all \(\lambda\in F\) and all \(v,w\in V\). Isomorphism, isotropy, subform etc.\ are defined in analogy to the theory of quadratic forms. Up to isomorphism, nonzero such forms are classified by their dimension and their value set \(D(\phi)=\{\phi(v)\,|\,v\in V\}\), which is an \(F^p\)-vector subspace of \(F\) of dimension \(\leq\dim(\phi)=\dim V\), and one defines the defect index \(i_0(\phi):=\dim V-\dim_{F^p}D(\phi)\). For \(p=2\), the theory of \(p\)-forms is in fact the theory of totally singular quadratic forms. In analogy to Pfister forms in the theory of bilinear and quadratic forms over fields, one can define quasi-Pfister forms which are \(p\)-forms \(\pi\) of dimension a \(p\)-power and such that \(D(\pi)\) is a field. A quasi-Pfister neighbor \(\phi\) of a quasi-Pfister \(\pi\) is a \(p\)-form similar to a subform of \(\pi\) with \(p\dim\phi>\dim\pi\). To each \(p\)-form \(\phi\), we consider the projective hypersurface \(X_{\phi}\subset \mathbb{P}(V)\) given by the equation \(\phi =0\). \(X_{\phi}\) is integral if the anisotropic part of \(\phi\) has dimension \(\geq 2\), in which case one defines the function field of the \(p\)-form \(F(\phi):=F(X_{\phi})\). In analogy to Knebusch's generic splitting tower for (nonsingular) quadratic forms, one can define a standard splitting tower of a \(p\)-form \(\phi\) by putting \(F_0:=F\) and \(\phi_0:=\phi_{\mathrm{an}}\), its anisotropic part. If \(\dim\phi_0\geq 2\), then \(\phi_0\) becomes isotropic over \(F_1:=F_0(\phi_0)\) and one puts \(\phi_1:=((\phi_0)_{F_1})_{\mathrm{an}}\). Continuing like this, one obtains a field tower \(F_0\subset F_1\subset\ldots \subset F_h\) and anisotropic forms \(\phi_i\) over \(F_i\) with \(h\) being the first index for which \(\dim\phi_h=1\). \(h\) is called the height of \(\phi\) and the standard splitting pattern is given by the decreasing sequence of the \(\dim\phi_i\)'s. Of the many results in the paper, we will explain a few in the sequel. The author asks the following (Question 4.4). If \(\phi,\psi\) are anisotropic \(p\)-forms over \(F\) of dimension \(\geq 2\) and \(L\) is a field extension of \(F\) such that \(\psi_L\) is isotropic, does there exist an \(F\)-place \(F(\psi)\to L\), and if \(\phi_{F(\psi)}\) is isotropic, must \(\phi_L\) be isotropic as well\,? He provides a positive answer for \(p\leq 3\) (Proposition 4.7). He also gives various characterizations for an anisotropic \(p\)-form to be a quasi-Pfister neighbor, for example in terms of its height or its splitting pattern (Theorem 6.4). More generally, he considers anisotropic \(p\)-forms \(\phi\) and \(\psi\) and expresses the height and splitting pattern of \(\psi\) in terms of the corresponding data for \(\phi\). First he considers the case where \(\psi\) is a subform of \(\phi\) of codimension \(1\) (Proposition 6.9) or of dimension \(\dim\phi_1\) (Corollary 6.10). Then he obtains results under the less restrictive assumption that \(\phi_{F(\psi)}\) is isotropic (Theorem 8.1). In particular, it is shown that the splitting patterns with their first entry removed will coincide if and only if \(\psi_{F(\phi)}\) is isotropic as well. Now if \(\phi\) is an anisotropic \(p\)-form of dimension \(p^n+m\) where \(1\leq m\leq p^{n+1}-p^n\), then one can show that \(i_1(\phi)\leq m\), and in case of equality one says that \(\phi\) has maximal splitting. Quasi-Pfister neighbors always have maximal splitting. The converse need not hold if \(m\) is sufficiently small, but the reviewer asked in [loc. cit.] if \(p\)-forms with maximal splitting of dimension \(p^n+m\) as above and with \(m>p^{n-1}\) (\(m>2^{n-2}\) for \(p=2\)) are always Pfister neighbors (Question 7.6). The author gives a positive answer in the case \(p=2\) (Theorem 9.6) and a partial answer for \(p\geq 3\), namely for \(m\geq p^{n+1}-p^n-p^{n-1}\) (Proposition 7.8). He also studies the isotropy of \(\phi\) over \(L(\phi)\), where \(L\) is a field extension over which \(\phi\) is not totally split, allowing him to get results on \(i_2(\phi)\) for forms of height \(\geq 2\), more precisely, \(i_2(\phi)\geq \min\{ i_1(\phi), [(\dim\phi_1)/p]\}\).