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Non-formality of Galois cohomology modulo all primes

Number Theory 2025-08-13 v1 Algebraic Geometry

Abstract

Let pp be a prime number and let FF be a field of characteristic different from pp. We prove that there exist a field extension L/FL/F and a,b,c,da,b,c,d in L×L^{\times} such that (a,b)=(b,c)=(c,d)=0(a,b)=(b,c)=(c,d)=0 in Br(F)[p]\mathrm{Br}(F)[p] but a,b,c,d\langle a,b,c,d\rangle is not defined over LL. Thus the Strong Massey Vanishing Conjecture at the prime pp fails for LL, and the cochain differential graded ring C(ΓL,Z/pZ)C^*(\Gamma_L,\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}) of the absolute Galois group ΓL\Gamma_L of LL is not formal. This answers a question of Positselski.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.2309.17004,
  title  = {Non-formality of Galois cohomology modulo all primes},
  author = {Alexander Merkurjev and Federico Scavia},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.17004},
  year   = {2025}
}

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27 pages