Zeta functions of curves with no rational points (Q494156)

Let \(k\) be a field and \(K_0(\text{Var}_k)\) the Grothendieck ring of varieties over \(k\), \(\mathbb{L}:= [\mathbb{A}^1]\in K_0(\text{Var}_k)\) the class of the affine line. In [``The elliptic curve in the S-duality theory and Eisenstein series for Kac-Moody groups'', \url{arXiv:math/001005}], \textit{M. Kapranov} proved that if \(C/k\) is a smooth, geometrically connected, projective curve of genus \(g\) with \(C(k)\neq\emptyset\) and \(Z_C(t)\) the motivic zeta-function of \(C\), then \[ Z_C(t)(1- t)(1-\mathbb{L} t)\in K_0(\text{Var}_k)[[t]] \] is a polynomial of degree \(2g\). The result is analoguous to the rationality of the Weil zeta-function on \(C\) if \(k\) is a finite field. The author of the paper under review proves that also in the case when \(C(k)= \emptyset\), there exist a polynomial \(p(t)\in 1+ K_0(\text{Var}_k)[t]\) such that \[ P(t)Z_C(t)\in K_0(\text{Var}_k)[[t]] \] is a polynomial with constant term 1. For his aim he uses a description of the class in \(K_0(\text{Var}_k)\) of a Severi-Brauer variety over a general finite type \(k\)-scheme.