On the Pythagoras number of function fields of curves over number fields (Q6584670)

For a field \(K\), the Pythagoras number \(p(K)\) is defined to be the smallest positive integer \(m\) such that every finite sum of squares of elements of \(K\) is a sum of \(m\) such squares, if such an integer exists, and \(\infty\) otherwise. For example, it is known that \(p(\mathbb Q(t))=5\) [\textit{Y. Pourchet}, Acta Arith. 19, 89--104 (1971; Zbl 0244.10019)]. In the present paper, the author considers finitely generated fields \(K\) with characteristic 0 and transcendence degree \(td(K/\mathbb Q)= 1\). For such fields, it is known that \(p(K)\leq 7\). In this paper, it is proved that the bound can be improved to \(p(K)\leq 6\) for these fields. In fact, it is proved that under some additional conditions, which are formulated by viewing \(K\) as the function field \(k(X)\) of a projective smooth curve \(X\) over a number field \(k\), one can conclude that certain elements can be written as sums of five squares, thereby lending support to \textit{A. Pfister}'s conjecture [Quadratic forms with applications to algebraic geometry and topology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1995; Zbl 0847.11014)] that \(p(K)\leq 5\) for the fields under consideration.