Divisible subgroups of Brauer groups and trace forms of central simple algebras (Q5958842)

Let \(F\) be a field of characteristic not equal to \(2\), \(\Omega(F)\) the space of orderings on \(F\), \(W(F)\) the Witt ring of \(F\), and \(I^n(F)\) the \(n\)-th power of the fundamental ideal of \(W(F)\), for each \(n\in\mathbb{N}\). The reduced stability index \(st_r(F)\) of \(F\) is defined to be the least nonnegative integer \(n\) such that \(I^{n+1}(F)\equiv 2I^n(F)\bmod W(F)_t(F)\), where \(W(F)_t(F)\) denotes the kernel of the map \(W(F)\to\prod_{v\in\Omega(F)}W(F_v)\). We say that \(I^n(F)\) is torsion-free, if \(I^n(F)\cap W(F)_t=0\). Also, we say that \(F\) possesses the strong approximation property (SAP), if for every clopen subset \(X\) of \(\Omega(F)\), there exists an element \(a\in F^*\) such that \(a>_v0\), provided that \(v\in X\), and \(a<_v0\), otherwise. The paper under review shows that if \(F\) is an SAP-field and \(I^3(F)\) is torsion-free, then the \(2\)-component \(\text{Br}(F)_2\) of the Brauer group \(\text{Br}(F)\) is presentable as a direct sum of a divisible group by a group of exponent \(2\). Also, it determines the rank of the maximal subgroup of \(\text{Br}(F)\) of exponent \(2\), i.e. its dimension as a vector space over the field with \(2\) elements. This is used by the authors for proving that a quadratic form \(q\) of dimension \(n^2\) over an SAP-field \(F\) satisfying the condition \(I^2(F)=0\) (where \(n\) is an even integer \(\geq 2\)) is isomorphic to a trace form of a central simple \(F\)-algebra of dimension \(n^2\) if and only if \(\det q=(-1)^{n(n-1)/2}\) and the signatures \(\text{sign}_vq\) equal \(n\) or \(-n\), for all \(v\in\Omega(F)\). The validity of the latter result is also established when \(F\) is a field such that \(I^3(F)\) is torsion-free, \(st_r(F)\leq 2\) and the exponent of each central division \(F\)-algebra \(A\) of \(2\)-primary dimension is equal to the Schur index of \(A\). These results are well-known in the special case of a global field \(F\). The authors finally obtain a local-global principle for trace forms over global fields of characteristic different from \(2\).