Twisted forms of toric varieties (Q326359)

The main object of the paper under review is a toric variety \(X\) defined over an arbitrary field \(k\) ( = a normal \(k\)-variety with a faithful action of a torus \(T\) which has a dense open orbit) and its twisted forms \(X'\) (varieties which become isomorphic to \(X\) after extending \(k\)). This notion depends on the category one works with. One can define at least three different ones: 1) the category of neutral toric varieties (when the open orbit is assumed to have a rational point and can thus be identified with \(T\)) together with toric morphisms (which restrict to group homomorphisms of tori); 2) the category of toric varieties with torus-equivariant morphisms; 3) the category of toric varieties with arbitrary morphisms, ignoring the toric structure. Whereas the first two categories had been extensively studied in the literature, the third one seems to be new. The author describes the twisted forms of \(X\) in this category by constructing an embedding of \(H^ 1(k,\mathrm{Aut}(X))\) into certain nonabelian second Galois cohomology, whose elements are related to the so-called ``elementary obstruction'' introduced by \textit{J.-L.~Colliot-Thélène} \textit{and J.-J.~Sansuc} [Duke Math. J. 54, 375--492 (1987; Zbl.~0659.14028)].