Geometric families of constant reductions and the Skolem property (Q4382967)

The paper deals with so called families of constant reductions. Let \(F| K\) be a function field in one variable and \(\mathcal{V}\) be a family of independent valuations of the constant field \(K\). Given \(v\in\mathcal{V}\), a valuation prolongation \( v\) to \(F\) is called a constant reduction of \(F\) if the residue fields \(F{\text v}| Kv\) form a function field of one variable. Let \(t\in{F}\) be a non-constant function and for each \(v\in\mathcal{V}\) let \(V_t\) be the set of all prolongations of the Gauss valuation \(v_t\) on \(K(t)\) to \(F\). Denote the union of all \(V_t\) over all \(v\in\mathcal{V}\) by {\(\mathbf {V}_t\).} Denote by {\(\mathbf {V}\)} a family of constant reductions of \(F\) prolonging the valuation of \(\mathcal{V}\). Then { \(\mathbf {V}\)} is called geometric if there exists a non-constant function \(t\in{F}\) such that the symmetric difference of { \(\mathbf {V}\)} and { \(\mathbf {V}_t\)} is finite. The family {\(\mathbf {V}\)} is called principal if { \(\mathbf {V}= V_t\)} for some non-constant function \(t\in{F}\). The main result presents four different sufficient conditions for the geometric family {\(\mathbf {V}\)} to be principal. The proof is divided into two parts, the first containing the proof of the result when \(\mathcal{V}\) is finite, and the second the passage to the global situation. This result is used to give a birational characterization of arithmetic surfaces and prove the existence of finite morphisms to \({\mathbb P}^1\).