Embeddability of quadratic forms in Pfister forms (Q5935900)

Let \(F\) be a field of characteristic not 2. An anisotropic quadratic form \(q\) over \(F\) is called \(m\)-embeddable if \(q\) is similar to a subform of an anisotropic \(m\)-fold Pfister form. Let \(m(q), m_{\text{ext}}(q)\), \(m_{ptr}(q)\) be the smallest integer \(m\) such that \(q\) is \(m\)-embeddable over \(F\), over an extension of \(F\), over a purely transcendental extension of \(F\), respectively. The authors discuss the connection among these invariants. They show that if \(2^{n-1}< \dim q \leq 2^n\), then \(m_{ptr}(q)=\min\{m(q), m_{\text{ext}}(q)\}\in\{n, n+1, n+2\}.\) They also determine possible values of \(m, m_{\text{ext}}, m_{ptr}\) in the case \(\dim q\leq 9.\) Let \(d\) be a positive integer and let \(M(d)\) be the set of all \(m\) (including \(\infty\)) for which there exists a field \(F\) and an anisotropic form \(q\) over \(F, \dim q = d\), such that \(m(q)=m.\) In the paper it is shown that if \(2^{n-1}<d\leq 2^n\), then (1) if \(1\leq d \leq 3\), then \(M(d)=\{n\}=\{d-1\}\), (2) if \(d \geq 4\), then \(M(d)=\{n,\dots ,d-1\}\cup\{\infty\}.\) Moreover, for all \(m\in M(d)\) one can find a field \(F\) and an anisotropic \(d\)-dimensional form \(q\) over \(F\) with \(m(q)=m\) and \(m_{\text{ext}}(q)=n.\) In the last section the authors show an application of their results to Milnor's \(K\)-groups.