Rationally simply connected varieties and pseudo algebraically closed fields

arXiv1704.02932MaRDI QIDQ6285350FDOQ6285350

Publication date: 10 April 2017

Abstract: The cohomological dimension of a field is the largest degree with non-vanishing Galois cohomology. Serre's "Conjecture II" predicts that for every perfect field of cohomological dimension

2

, every torsor over the field for a semisimple, simply connected algebraic group is trivial. A field is perfect and "pseudo algebraically closed" (PAC) if every geometrically irreducible curve over the field has a rational point. These have cohomological dimension

1

. Every transcendence degree

1

extension of such a field has cohomological degree

2

. We prove Serre's "Conjecture II" for such fields of cohomological degree

2

provided either the field is of characteristic

0

or the field contains primitive roots of unity for all orders

n

prime to the characteristic. The method uses "rational simple connectedness" in an essential way. With the same method, we prove that such fields are

C_{2}

-fields, and we prove that "Period equals Index" for the Brauer groups of such fields. Finally, we use a similar method to reprove and extend a theorem of Fried-Jarden: every perfect PAC field of positive characteristic is

C_{2}

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Field arithmetic (12E30) Rational points (14G05) Other nonalgebraically closed ground fields in algebraic geometry (14G27)

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