English

What are the odds that a conic bundle over a finite field is rational?

Algebraic Geometry 2026-07-17 v1

Abstract

We study rationality of conic bundles over finite fields defined over the line. In particular, for a fixed number nn of degenerate fibers, what is the proportion of good conic bundles that are rational over a finite field of order qq? The Galois action on their Picard groups factors through the Weyl group W(Dn)W(D_n), reducing rationality to a condition on signed permutation types. Using work of Colliot-Th\'el\`ene and Yang together with Chebotarev density, we compute the asymptotic proportion of such conic bundles that are rational as qq goes to infinity.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.15997,
  title  = {What are the odds that a conic bundle over a finite field is rational?},
  author = {Amanda Hernandez},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.15997},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

19 pages, 1 figure