Round quadratic forms (Q5917367)

A (non-degenerate) quadratic form \(\psi\) over a field K of characteristic \(\neq 2\) is called round if either (i) it is a sum of hyperbolic forms or (ii) it is anisotropic and \(x\psi\sim \psi\) holds for all elements \(x\in K^\times\) represented by \(\psi\). The Pfister forms, that is the forms of the type \(\langle 1, a_1\rangle \otimes\ldots\otimes\langle 1, a_v\rangle\), \(a_1,\ldots, a_v\in K^\times\) are round but not all round forms are Pfister forms. It is proved that if \(\psi\) is a round form over \(K\) of dimension \(2^v l\), \(l\) odd, then there exists a \(v\)-fold Pfister form \(\psi_0\) defined over \(K\) such that \(\psi\sim l\times\psi_0\) over the Pythagorean hull of \(K\). This result is applied to give a characterization of round forms over (i) Pythagorean fields; (ii) fields with generalized \(u\)-invariant 2; (iii) fields with generalized \(u\)-invariant 4 whose quaternion algebra classes form a subgroup of the Brauer group.