Let U be a connected scheme of finite cohomological dimension in which every finite set of points is contained in an affine open subscheme. Suppose that alpha is a class in H^2(U_et,Gm)_{tors}. For each positive integer m, the K-theory of alpha-twisted sheaves is used to identify obstructions to alpha being representable by an Azumaya algebra of rank m^2. The etale index of alpha, denoted eti(alpha), is the least positive integer such that all the obstructions vanish. Let per(alpha) be the order of alpha in H^2(U_{et},Gm)_{tors}. Methods from stable homotopy theory give an upper bound on the etale index that depends on the period of alpha and the etale cohomological dimension of U; this bound is expressed in terms of the exponents of the stable homotopy groups of spheres and the exponents of the stable homotopy groups of B(Z/per(alpha)). As a corollary, if U is the spectrum of a field of finite cohomological dimension d, then eti(alpha) divides per(alpha)^[d/2], where [d/2] is the integer part of d/2, whenever per(alpha) is divided neither by the characteristic of k nor by any primes that are small relative to d.
Let $S$ be a scheme and let $π: \mathcal{G} \to S$ be a $\mathbb{G}_{m,S}$-gerbe corresponding to a torsion class $[\mathcal{G}]$ in the cohomological Brauer group $\mathrm{Br}'(S)$ of $S$. We show that the cohomological Brauer group $\mathrm{Br}'(\mathcal{G})$ of $\mathcal{G}$ is isomorphic to the quotient of $\mathrm{Br}'(S)$ by the subgroup generated by the class $[\mathcal{G}]$. This is analogous to a theorem proved by Gabber for Brauer-Severi schemes.
The étale Brauer\textendash Manin obstruction is equivalent to each other among Weil restrictions of an arbitrarily given quasi-projective algebraic variety defined over a number field.
Nous montrons comment associer à une gerbe définie sur un corps de nombres une obstruction de Brauer-Manin mesurant, comme dans le cas des variétés, le défaut d'existence d'une section globale. Ceci nous conduit à une généralisation de la dualité de Tate-Poitou au cas non-abélien. We find a way to associate to a gerbe defined over a number field a Brauer-Manin obstruction, which measures, as for varieties, the defect to the existence of a global section. This leads us to a generalization of Tate-Poitou duality in the non-abelian case.
We report on our experiments and theoretical investigations concerning weak approximation and the transcendental Brauer-Manin obstruction for special Kummer surfaces.
We compute the Brauer group of the moduli stack of hyperelliptic curves $\mathcal{H}_g$ over any field of characteristic zero. In positive characteristic, we compute the part of the Brauer group whose order is prime to the characteristic of the base field.
We prove that, on a sufficiently general diagonal quartic surface, there is a non-trivial Brauer group but no Brauer-Manin obstruction to the existence of rational points.
We investigate the question of whether the existence of a family of local zero-cycles of degree $d$ orthogonal to the Brauer group implies the non-emptiness of the Brauer-Manin set for certain varieties. We provide various examples of Brauer-Manin obstruction to the existence of zero-cycles of appropriate degrees.
For a quasi-projective smooth geometrically integral variety over a number field $k$, we prove that the iterated descent obstruction is equivalent to the descent obstruction. This generalizes a result of Skorobogatov, and this answers an open question of Poonen. The key idea is the notion of invariant Brauer subgroup and the notion of invariant étale Brauer-Manin obstruction for a $k$-variety equipped with an action of a connected linear algebraic group.
The Brauer-Manin obstruction is used to explain the failure of the local-global principle for algebraic varieties. In 1999 Skorobogatov gave the first example of a variety that does not satisfy the local-global principle which is not explained by the Brauer-Manin obstruction. He did so by applying the Brauer-Manin obstruction to étale covers of the variety, and thus defining a finer obstruction. In 2008 Poonen gave the first example of failure of the local-global principle which cannot be explained for by Skorobogatov's étale-Brauer obstruction. However, Poonen's construction was not accompani…
We reinterpret Kim's non-abelian reciprocity maps for algebraic varieties as obstruction towers of mapping spaces of etale homotopy types, removing technical hypotheses such as global basepoints and cohomological constraints. We then extend the theory by considering alternative natural series of extensions, one of which gives an obstruction tower whose first stage is the Brauer--Manin obstruction, allowing us to determine when Kim's maps recover the Brauer-Manin locus. A tower based on relative completions yields non-trivial reciprocity maps even for Shimura varieties; for the stacky modular c…
Let k be any global field of characteristic not 2. We construct a k-variety X such that X(k) is empty, but for which the emptiness cannot be explained by the Brauer-Manin obstruction or even by the Brauer-Manin obstruction applied to finite etale covers.
For a smooth and projective variety over a number field with torsion free geometric Picard group and finite transcendental Brauer group we show that only the archimedean places, the primes of bad reduction and the primes dividing the order of the transcendental Brauer group can turn up in the description of the Brauer-Manin set.
Using the Kuga-Satake correspondence we provide an effective algorithm for the computation of the Picard and Brauer groups of K3 surfaces of degree 2 over number fields.
We construct families of log K3 surfaces and study the arithmetic of their members. We use this to produce explicit surfaces with an order 5 Brauer-Manin obstruction to the integral Hasse principle.
We establish Grothendieck's section conjecture for an open subset of the Reichardt-Lind curve, and introduce the notion of a Brauer-Manin obstruction for sections of the fundamental group extension.
We construct a conic bundle over an elliptic curve over a real quadratic field that is a counterexample to the Hasse principle not explained by the étale Brauer-Manin obstruction. We also give simple examples of threefolds with the same property that are families of 2-dimensional quadrics, and discuss some other examples and general properties of the Brauer-Manin obstruction.
The §2 of our work "Sous-groupe de Brauer invariant et obstruction de descente itérée" uses a statement about the degree two Künneth formula proved by Skorobogatov and Zarhin in their paper "The Brauer group and the Brauer-Manin set of products of varieties". Recently they find that this statement is not correct (see their Corrigendum). We correct §2 of our paper. The rest of our paper is still correct.
We study local-global principles for zero-cycles on K3 surfaces defined over number fields. We follow an idea of Liang to use the trivial fibration over the projective line.
Let $k$ be a number field. We construct homogeneous spaces of $SL_{n,k}$ with finite nilpotent non-abelian stabilizers for which the Brauer-Manin obstruction does not explain the failure of strong approximation (resp. the failure of the integral Hasse principle).
Recently Dasheng Wei proved that the Brauer-Manin obstruction is the only obstruction to the Hasse principle for 0-cycles of degree 1 on some fibrations over the projective line defined by bi-cyclic normic equations. In the present paper, we prove the exactness of the global-to-local sequence for Chow groups of 0-cycles of such varieties, which signifies that the Brauer-Manin obstruction is also the only obstruction to weak approximation for 0-cycles of arbitrary degree. Our main theorem also generalizes several existing results.
We show that if over some number field there exists a certain diagonal plane cubic curve that is locally solvable everywhere, but that does not have points over any cubic galois extension of the number field, then the algebraic part of the Brauer-Manin obstruction is not the only obstruction to the Hasse principle for K3 surfaces.
This note gives an explicit example of transcendental Brauer-Manin obstruction to weak approximation. It has two features which the only previously known example of such obstruction did not have: the class in the Brauer group which is responsible for the obstruction is divisible, and the underlying algebraic variety is an elliptic surface (a K3 surface).
We wish to give a short elementary proof of S. Saito's result that the Brauer-Manin obstruction for zero-cycles of degree 1 is the only one for curves, supposing the finiteness of the Tate-Shafarevich-group $\sha^1(A)$ of the Jacobian variety. In fact we show that we only need a conjecturally finite part of the Brauer-group for this obstruction to be the only one. We also comment on the situation in higher dimensions
In 2011, Vàrilly-Alvarado and the last author constructed an Enriques surface $X$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ with an étale-Brauer obstruction to the Hasse principle and no algebraic Brauer-Manin obstruction. In this paper, we show that the nontrivial Brauer class of $X_{\bar{\mathbb{Q}}}$ does not descend to $\mathbb{Q}$. Together with the results of Vàrilly-Alvarado and the last author, this proves that the Brauer-Manin obstruction is insufficient to explain all failures of the Hasse principle on Enriques surfaces. The methods of this paper build on the ideas in several recent papers by the last autho…
We use Brauer-Manin obstructions to explain failures of the integral Hasse principle and strong approximation away from infinity for the equation x^2+y^2+z^k=m with fixed integers k>=3 and m. Under Schinzel's hypothesis (H), we prove that Brauer-Manin obstructions corresponding to specific Azumaya algebras explain all failures of strong approximation away from infinity at the variable z. Finally, we present an algorithm that, again under Schinzel's hypothesis (H), finds out whether the equation has any integral solutions.
We construct a smooth and projective surface over an arbitrary number field that is a counterexample to the Hasse principle but has the infinite etale Brauer-Manin set. We also construct a surface with a unique rational point and the infinite etale Brauer-Manin set. The key new ingredient is the arithmetic of singular projective curves.
We study the Brauer-Manin obstruction to the existence of zero-cycles of degree $d$ on certain classes of varieties over number fields. We generalise existing results in the literature and prove some results about fibrations over the projective line, where the geometric Brauer group of the generic fibre is not assumed to be finite. The idea is to assume that the Brauer-Manin obstruction to the Hasse principle is the only one for certain fibres and then deduce analogous results for zero-cycles.
We describe a method to compute the Brauer-Manin obstruction for smooth cubic surfaces over $\bbQ$ such that $\Br(S)/\Br(\bbQ)$ is of order two or four. This covers the vast majority of the cases when this group is non-zero. Our approach is to associate a Brauer class with every Galois invariant double-six. We show that all order two Brauer classes may be obtained in this way. We also recover Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer's result that $\Br(S)/\Br(\bbQ)$ may take only five values.
In this paper, we study the properties of weak approximation with Brauer-Manin obstruction and the Hasse principle with Brauer-Manin obstruction for surfaces with respect to field extensions of number fields. We assume a conjecture of M. Stoll. For any nontrivial extension of number fields $L/K,$ we construct two kinds of smooth, projective, and geometrically connected surfaces defined over $K.$ For the surface of the first kind, it has a $K$-rational point, and satisfies weak approximation with Brauer-Manin obstruction off $\infty_K,$ while its base change by $L$ does not so off $\infty_L.$ F…
The purpose of this article is to show how one might compute the étale cohomology groups $H^p_{\acute{e}t}(X,G_m)$ in degrees $p=0$, $1$ and $2$ of a toric variety $X$ with coefficients in the sheaf of units. The method is to reduce the computation down to the problem of diagonalizing a matrix with integral coefficients. The procedure outlined in this article has been fully implemented by the author as a program written in the ``C'' programming language.
We analyze the Brauer-Manin obstruction to rational points on the K3 surfaces over $\mathbb{Q}$ given by double covers of $\mathbb{P}^2$ ramified over a diagonal sextic. After finding an explicit set of generators for the geometric Picard group of such a surface, we find two types of infinite families of counterexamples to the Hasse principle explained by the algebraic Brauer-Manin obstruction. The first type of obstruction comes from a quaternion algebra, and the second type comes from a 3-torsion element of the Brauer group, which gives an affirmative answer to a question asked by Ieronymou …
In this paper, we study the property of weak approximation with Brauer-Manin obstruction for surfaces with respect to field extensions of number fields. For any nontrivial extension of number fields L/K, assuming a conjecture of M. Stoll, we construct a smooth, projective, and geometrically connected surface over K such that it satisfies weak approximation with Brauer-Manin obstruction off all archimedean places, while its base change to L fails. Then we illustrate this construction with an explicit unconditional example.
Let $X$ be a cubic surface over a global field $k$. We prove that a Brauer-Manin obstruction to the existence of $k$-points on $X$ will persist over every extension $L/k$ with degree relatively prime to $3$. In other words, a cubic surface has nonempty Brauer set over $k$ if and only if it has nonempty Brauer set over some extension $L/k$ with $3\nmid[L:k]$. Therefore, the conjecture of Colliot-Thélène and Sansuc on the sufficiency of the Brauer-Manin obstruction for cubic surfaces implies that $X$ has a $k$-rational point if and only if $X$ has a $0$-cycle of degree $1$. This latter statement…
Toric varieties are a special class of rational varieties defined by equations of the form {\it monomial = monomial}. For a good brief survey of the history and role of toric varieties see [10]. Any toric variety $X$ contains a cover by affine open sets described in terms of arrangements (called fans) of convex bodies in $\Bbb R^r$. The coordinate rings of each of these affine open sets is a graded ring generated over the ground field by monomials. As a consequence, toric varieties provide a good context in which cohomology can be calculated. The purpose of this article is to describe the seco…
We relate the Brauer group of a smooth variety over a p-adic field to the geometry of the special fibre of a regular model, using the purity theorem in étale cohomology. As an illustration, we describe how the Brauer group of a smooth del Pezzo surface is determined by the singularity type of its reduction. We then relate the evaluation of an element of the Brauer group to the existence of points on certain torsors over the special fibre; we use this to describe situations when the evaluation is constant, and situations when the evaluation is surjective. In the latter case, we describe how thi…
In 2010, Poonen gave the first example of failure of the local-global principle that cannot be explained by Skorobogatov's étale Brauer-Manin obstruction. Motivated by this example, we show that the Brauer-Manin obstruction detects non-existence of rational points on a sufficiently fine Zariski open cover of any variety over an imaginary quadratic or totally real field. We provide some evidence for why this is expected to happen more generally over any number field, some of which relates to the section conjecture in anabelian geometry. We then prove a result about the behavior of the étale Bra…
We show that, for every integer $1 \leq d \leq 4$ and every finite set $S$ of places, there exists a degree $d$ del Pezzo surface $X$ over ${\mathbb Q}$ such that ${\rm Br}(X)/{\rm Br}({\mathbb Q}) \cong {\mathbb Z}/2{\mathbb Z}$ and the Brauer-Manin obstruction works exactly at the places in $S$. For $d = 4$, we prove that in all cases, with the exception of $S = \{\infty\}$, this surface may be chosen diagonalizably over ${\mathbb Q}$.
Let $\mathbb{F}$ be a finite field and $C,D$ smooth, geometrically irreducible proper curves over $\mathbb{F}$ and set $K = \mathbb{F}(D)$. We consider Brauer-Manin and abelian descent obstructions to the existence of rational points and to weak approximation for the curve $C \otimes_\mathbb{F} K$. In particular, we show that Brauer-Manin is the only obstruction to weak approximation and the Hasse principle in the case that the genus of $D$ is less than that of $C$. We also show that we can identify the points corresponding to non-constant maps $D \to C$ using Frobenius descents.
Ghosh and Sarnak have studied integral points on surfaces defined by an equation x^2+y^2+z^2-xyz= m over the integers. For these affine surfaces, we systematically study the Brauer group and the Brauer-Manin obstruction to the integral Hasse principle. We prove that strong approximation for integral points on any such surface, away from any finite set of places, fails, and that, for m\neq 0, 4, the Brauer group does not control strong approximation.
