Rationally isomorphic hermitian forms and torsors of some non-reductive groups

Let R be a semilocal Dedekind domain. Under certain assumptions, we show that two (not necessarily unimodular) hermitian forms over an R-algebra with involution, which are rationally isomorphic and have isomorphic semisimple coradicals, are in fact isomorphic. The same result is also obtained for quadratic forms equipped with an action of a finite group. The results have cohomological restatements that resemble the Grothendieck-Serre conjecture, except the group schemes involved are not reductive. We show that these group schemes are closely related to group schemes arising in Bruhat-Tits theory. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Anneau de Witt des G-formes et multiples de G-formes trace

Philippe Chabloz

This thesis deals with the study of G-forms and particulary the trace form of a G-Galois algebra. Let k be a field of characteristic not two. Let G be a finite group and L a G-Galois algebra over k. We define the trace form qL by qL(x, y) = TrL/k(xy) for all x, y in L. This is a bilinear symmetric form which is G-invariant. In other words, qL is a G-form. We know that L has a self-dual normal basis if and only if the trace form qL is G-isomorphic to the unit G-form q0. This is an important reason to classify the trace forms. This work contains two different parts. In the first part, we study G-forms in general, putting a ring structure on their Witt group. We then proved an analogue of Pfister's theorem - i.e. there is no zero divisor of odd dimension - when k[G] is semi-simple, k is big enough and G is abelian. Counter-examples are given when these conditions are not fulfilled. In the second part of this thesis, we study the trace form qL of a G-Galois algebra. E. Bayer-Fluckiger and H. W. Lenstra proved that if G is of odd order, then qL is always G-isomorphic to the unit form. If G is of even order, this is no longer the case. However, if the field k is of cohomological 2-dimension less than or equal to 1, then E. Bayer-Fluckiger and J.-P. Serre gave a necessary and sufficient condition - in terms of cohomological invariants - for the trace form qL to be isomorphic to the unit form. M. Monsurrò generalized this result to fields of virtual cohomological 2-dimension equal to 1. However, in higher cohomological dimensions, it becomes very difficult to classify the trace form itself. But it is possible to give general results if we consider multiples of the trace form or more generally the product of the trace form by a quadratic form. E. Bayer-Fluckiger formulated 2 conjectures about the possibility of finding a complete system of invariants for such a product when the quadratic form lies in a certain ideal of the Witt ring of k depending on the cohomological dimension of the field. In this work, we prove the first conjecture for all cohomological dimensions and the second one for a field of cohomological 2-dimension equal to 2. A more general conjecture is proved including the fields of virtual cohomological 2-dimension equal to 2. Finally, the second conjecture of E. Bayer-Fluckiger is proved in all cohomological dimensions, but only when either the characteristic of k is non zero or the group G is abelian or a 2-group, or k is big enough.

EPFL2004

Patching And Weak Approximation In Isometry Groups

Eva Bayer Fluckiger

Let R be a semilocal principal ideal domain. Two algebraic objects over R in which scalar extension makes sense (e.g. quadratic spaces) are said to be of the same genus if they become isomorphic after extending scalars to all completions of R and its fraction field. We prove that the number of isomorphism classes in the genus of unimodular quadratic spaces over ( not necessarily commutative) R-orders is always a finite power of 2, and under further assumptions, e.g., that the order is hereditary, this number is 1. The same result is also shown for related objects, e.g., systems of sesquilinear forms. A key ingredient in the proof is a weak approximation theorem for groups of isometries, which is valid over any (topological) base field, and even over semilocal base rings.

Amer Mathematical Soc2017

Hermitian Forms over Algebras with Involution and Hermitian Categories

Daniel Arnold Moldovan

This thesis is concerned with the algebraic theory of hermitian forms. It is organized in two parts. The first, consisting of the first two chapters, deals with some descent properties of unimodular hermitian forms over central simple algebras with involution. The second, which consists of the last two chapters, generalizes several classical properties of unimodular hermitian forms over rings with involution to the setting of sesquilinear forms in hermitian categories. The original results established in this thesis are joint work with Professor Eva Bayer-Fluckiger. The first chapter contains an introduction to the algebraic theory of unimodular ε-hermitian forms over fields with involution. One knows that if L/K is an extension of odd degree (where char(K) ≠ 2) then the restriction map rL/K : W(K) →W(L) is injective. In addition, if the extension is purely inseparable then the map rL/K is bijective. In the second chapter we first introduce the basic notions and techniques of the theory of unimodular ε-hermitian forms over algebras with involution, in particular the technique of Morita equivalence. Let L/K be a finite field extension, τ an involution on L and A a finite-dimensional K-algebra endowed with an involution α such that αœK = τœK. E. Bayer-Fluckiger and H.W. Lenstra proved that if L/K is of odd degree and αœK = idK then the restriction map rL/Kε : Wε(A, α) → Wε(A ⊗K L, α ⊗ τ) is injective for any ε = ±1. This holds also if αœK ≠ idK. We prove that if, in addition, L/K is purely inseparable and A is a central simple K-algebra, then the above map is actually bijective. The proof proceeds via induction on the degree of the algebra and uses in an essential way an exact sequence of Witt groups due to R. Parimala, R. Sridharan and V. Suresh, later extended by N. Gernier-Boley and M.G. Mahmoudi. The third chapter contains a survey of the theory of hermitian and quadratic forms in hermitian categories. In particular, we cover the transfer between two hermitian categories, the reduction by an ideal, the transfer into the endomorphism ring of an object, as well as the Krull-Schmidt-Azumaya theorem and some of its applications. In the fourth chapter we prove, adapting the ideas developed by E. Bayer-Fluckiger and L. Fainsilber, that the category of sesquilinear forms in a hermitian category ℳ is equivalent to the category of unimodular hermitian forms in the category of double arrows of ℳ. In order to obtain this equivalence of categories we associate to a sesquilinear form the double arrow consisting of its two adjoints, equipped with a canonical unimodular hermitian form. This equivalence of categories allows us to define a notion of Witt group for sesquilinear forms in hermitian categories. This generalizes the classical notion of a Witt group of unimodular hermitian forms over rings with involution. Using the above equivalence of categories we deduce analogues of the Witt cancellation theorem and Springer's theorem for sesquilinear forms over certain algebras with involution. We also extend some finiteness results due to E. Bayer-Fluckiger, C. Kearton and S.M. J. Wilson. In addition, we study the weak Hasse-Minkowski principle for sesquilinear forms over skew fields with involution over global fields. We prove that this principle holds for systems of sesquilinear forms over a skew field over a global field and endowed with a unitary involution. Two systems of sesquilinear forms are hence isometric if and only if they are isometric over all the completions of the base field. This result has already been known for unimodular hermitian and skew-hermitian forms over rings with involution, under the same hypothesis. Finally, we study the behaviour of the Witt group of a linear hermitian category under extension of scalars. Let K be a field of characteristic different from 2, L a finite extension of K and ℳ a K-linear hermitian category. We define the extension of ℳ to L as being the category with the same objects as ℳ and with morphisms given by the morphisms of ℳ extended to L. We obtain an L-linear hermitian category, denoted by ℳL. The canonical functor of scalar extension ℛL/K : ℳ → ℳL induces for any ε = ±1 a group homomorphism Wε(ℳ) →Wε(ℳL). We prove that if all the idempotents of the category ℳ split and the extension L/K is of odd degree then this homomorphism is injective. This result has already been known in the case when ℳ is the category of finite-dimensional K-vector spaces.