The determinant and the discriminant of a complete intersection of even dimension (Q722899)

Let \(k\) be a field, \(\Gamma_k=\mathrm{Aut}_k(\bar{k})\) be the absolute Galois group. For a smooth proper variety \(X\) of even dimension \(n\) over \(k\), the \(\ell\)-adic cohomology group of the middle degree \( V=H^n(X_{\bar{k}},\mathbb{Q}_{\ell}(\frac{n}{2})) \) gives an orthogonal (via Poincaré duality) representation. Its determinant induces a quadratic character \[ \mathrm{det}V: \Gamma_k \to \{ \pm 1 \}\subset \mathbb{Q}_{\ell}^{\times}. \] In the case that \(X=V(f_1,\cdots,f_r)\subset \mathbb{P}_k^m\) is a complete intersection, the author computes \(\mathrm{det}V\) in terms of the discriminant \(\mathrm{disc}_{\sigma}(f_1,\cdots,f_r)\) (Theorem 2.3.1) of the defining polynomials of \(X\). More precisely, if the characteristic of \(k\) is not \(2\), then \[ \mathrm{det}V= \sqrt{\mathrm{disc}_{\sigma}(f_1,\cdots,f_r)}. \] This generalizes the result of \textit{T. Saito} [Math. Res. Lett. 19, No. 04, 855--871 (2012; Zbl 1285.14046)] in the case that \(X\) is an even dimensional hypersurface in a projective space. The case that \(\mathrm{char}k=2\) is also treated in Subsection 2.5. In Section 3, the author gives an explicit presentation of the discriminant of the complex intersection of two quadrics.