Local-global principles for 1-motives (Q935197)

The main object of the paper under review is a torsor \(X\) under a semiabelian variety \(G\) defined over a number field \(k\). The authors study the Hasse principle for such torsors. The main result (Theorem 1.1) states that the only obstruction for the Hasse principle is the Manin obstruction related to a certain finite subquotient \({\text Б} (X)\) of the Brauer group of \(X\) (assuming that the Tate--Shafarevich group of the abelian quotient \(A\) of \(G\) is finite). More precisely, \({\text Б} (X)\) is defined as the kernel of the localization map \(Br_a(X)\to\prod Br_a(X_v)\) where the product is taken over all places of \(k\), and \(Br_a(X)\) denotes the quotient of the kernel \(Br_1(X)\) of the natural map \(Br(X)\to Br(\overline X)\) by the image of the map \(Br(k)\to Br(X)\). Then if there is an adelic point of \(X\) annihilated by all elements of \({\text Б} (X)\) under the pairing \(X(A_k)\times {\text Б} (X) \to\mathbb Q/\mathbb Z\), then \(X\) has a \(k\)-rational point. This statement was known both for abelian varieties (Manin) and tori (and, more generally, connected linear algebraic groups) (Sansuc). However, it does not hold for certain connected noncommutative nonlinear algebraic groups (see \textit{M. Borovoi, J.-L.~Colliot-Thélène}, and \textit{A.~N.~Skorobogatov} [Duke Math. J. 141, 321--364 (2008; Zbl 1135.14013)]). To make this approach work for a general connected algebraic group, one thus has to replace \({\text Б} (X)\) with a bigger group, the unramified part of \(Br_1(X)\) \textit{D.~Harari} [Int. Math. Res. Not. 2006, No. 4, Article ID 68632, 13 p. (2006; Zbl 1100.14013)]. The authors use many new tools for the proof of the main result which are of their own interest. They interpret the above mentioned pairing as a cup product in étale hypercohomology (for an arbitrary smooth variety \(X\)). The theory of generalized Albanese varieties used in the proof of the main theorem is also applied to obtain a generalization of the Cassels--Tate duality to 1-motives. This duality, in turn, is used for reproving the weak approximation theorem of Harari [loc. cit.] in the crucial case of semiabelian varieties.