Gerbes and covers (Q4237103)

This paper uses the theory of gerbes developed by Giraud. We first outline some of the definitions needed. Let \(K\) be a field and \(B\) be a regular projective geometrically irreducible \(K\)-variety. A gerbe \({\mathcal G}(f)\) is assigned to each finite branched cover \(f: X\to B\) defined over the separable closure \(K_{s}\) of \(K\). Let \(G(K)\) be the group of this cover \(f\) and \(N\) the normalizer of \(G(K)\) in \(S_{d}\), where \(d\) is the degree of \(f\). If the usual map \(\lambda : G(K)\to N/CG(K)\), where \(CG(K)\) is the centralizer of \(G(K)\) in \(N\), lifts to a map \(\Lambda : G(K)\to N/G(K)\), then one says that the (\(\lambda\)/Lift)-condition holds. Let \(\phi :\Pi_{K_{s}}\to G\) be the morphism associated to \(f\). Here \(\Pi_{K_{s}}\) is the arithmetic fundamental group. The field \(K\) is the field of moduli of \(f\) if the ramification locus is \(G(K)\)-invariant and, for each \(u\in\Pi_{K}\), there is a \(\psi_{u}\in N\) such that \(\phi (x^{u}) = \phi(x)^{\psi_{u}}\) for all \(x\in \Pi_{K_{s}}\). Suppose now that the (\(\lambda\)/Lift)-condition holds and \(K\) is the field of moduli of \(f\). The main theorem of the paper, given the context by the above statements, shows that the following are equivalent: (i) the gerbe \({\mathcal G}(f)\) is neutral, (ii) the cover \(f\) can be defined over \(K\) with \(\Lambda\) as constant extension map, (iii) the class \([{\mathcal G}(f)_{\Lambda}]\), viewed as an element of \(H^{2}(K,Z(G))\), is trivial.