A virtually ample field that is not ample (Q2279953)

A field \(K\) is called ample (or large, or anti-Mordellic), if every geometrically integral \(K\)-variety \(V\) with a smooth \(K\)-point has the property that the set \(V(K)\) of \(K\)-points of \(V\) is Zariski-dense in \(V\). We say that \(K\) is virtually ample, if some finite extension of \(K\) is an ample field. A field \(F\) is ample in each of the following cases: (i) if \(F\) is a PAC-field (see Proposition~11.1.1 of \textit{M. D. Fried} and \textit{M. Jarden}'s book [Field arithmetic. Revised by Moshe Jarden. 3rd revised ed. Berlin: Springer (2008; Zbl 1145.12001)]; (ii) if \(F\) is complete with respect to a nontrivial absolute value; (iii) if \(F\) is a Henselian valued field (for a more general type of ample fields, see [\textit{F. Pop}, Ann. Math. (2) 172, No. 3, 2183--2195 (2010; Zbl 1220.12001)]; (iv) the absolute Galois group of \(F\) is a pro-\(p\)-group, for any fixed prime \(p\) [\textit{J.-L. Colliot-Thélène}, Ann. Math. (2) 151, No. 1, 359--373 (2000; Zbl 0990.12003)]; when \(p = 2\), this applies to real closed fields, in the sense of Artin-Schreier. More examples of ample fields can be found, e.g., in [\textit{M. Jarden}, Algebraic patching. Berlin: Springer (2011; Zbl 1235.12002)], and in [\textit{F. Pop}, in: Valuation theory in interaction. Proceedings of the 2nd international conference and workshop on valuation theory, Segovia and El Escorial, Spain, July 18--29, 2011. Zürich: European Mathematical Society (EMS). 432--463 (2014; Zbl 1341.12004)]. Since their introduction, ample fields have played a major role in different areas like Galois theory, arithmetic geometry, valuation theory and model theory. The paper under review answers affirmatively the question of whether there exists a virtually ample field which is not ample. This question has been posed in Jarden's book [loc. cit., Problem~5.5.3], and together with other related open problems, by \textit{L. Bary-Soroker} and \textit{A. Fehm} in their survey [``Open problems in the theory of ample fields'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1106.1310}]. The reviewed paper shows that if \(p\) is a prime number or \(p = 0\), then there is a field \(L\) of characteristic \(p\), which is not ample and there is a quadratic separable extension \(M/L\), such that \(M\) is a PAC-field and hence ample. To prove this main result, the author borrows the idea of the proof of Lemma~5.3 in [\textit{M. Jarden} and \textit{B. Poonen}, J. Ramanujan Math. Soc. 31, No. 2, 189--194 (2016; Zbl 1425.11132)]. To implement it, he overcomes the encountered technical difficulties, by applying a variant of Cantor's diagonal argument, used in a paper by [\textit{W.-D. Geyer} and \textit{M. Jarden}, Math. Res. Lett. 8, No. 4, 509--519 (2001; Zbl 0991.12004)]. When \(p > 0\), the reviewed paper adds to the cited paper by Geyer-Jarden new interesting examples of nonreal and non-PAC fields whose Henselizations with respect to any nontrivial Krull valuation are separably closed.