Essential \(p\)-dimension of split simple groups of type \(A_n\) (Q368626)

In the main result of this article (Theorem 1.1), the authors express the essential \(p\)-dimension of a split simple algebraic group of type \(A_n\) in terms of the essential \(p\)-dimension of the functor \(\text{Alg}(n,m)\); under the assumption that the characteristic of the base field is not \(p\). Here, the algebraic group in question is \(G=\mathrm{SL}(n) / \mu_m\); and for a field \(E\), \(\text{Alg}(n,m)(E) \subset \mathrm{Br}_m(E)\) is the set of elements whose index divides \(n\). As a corollary, they obtain upper and lower bounds for the essential \(p\)-dimension of \(\mathrm{SL} (p^r) / \mu_{p^s}\); they also compute the essential \(2\)-dimensions for various such groups for small values of \(n\).