Related papers: On the Pfister Number of Quadratic Forms

For certain types of quadratic forms lying in the n-th power of the fundamental ideal, we compute upper bounds and where possible exact values for the minimal number of general n-fold Pfister forms, that are needed to write the Witt class…

We study the necessary conditions for sets of quadratic $n$-fold Pfister forms to have a common $(n-1)$-fold Pfister factor. For any set $S$ of $n$-fold Pfister forms generating a subgroup of $I_q^n F/I_q^{n+1} F$ of order $2^s$ in which…

A $3$-fold and a $5$-fold quadratic Pfister forms are canonically associated to every symplectic involution on a central simple algebra of degree $8$ over a field of characteristic $2$. The same construction on central simple algebras of…

Given a field $F$ of characteristic 2, we prove that if every three quadratic $n$-fold Pfister forms have a common quadratic $(n-1)$-fold Pfister factor then $I_q^{n+1} F=0$. As a result, we obtain that if every three quaternion algebras…

For a discrete valuation ring $R$ with quotient field $K$ and residue field $F$ both of characteristic not 2, we study low-dimensional quadratic forms with Witt class in the $n$-th power of the fundamental ideal of $F$ resp. $K$ and point…

We show that over any field $F$ of $\operatorname{char}(F)=2$ and 2-rank $n$, there exist $2^n$ bilinear $n$-fold Pfister forms that have no slot in common. This answers a question of Becher's in the negative. We provide an analogous result…

In this note, we prove the existence of a set of $n$-fold Pfister forms of cardinality $2^n$ over $\mathbb{C}(x_1,\dots,x_n)$ which do not share a common $(n-1)$-fold factor. This gives a negative answer to a question raised by Becher. The…

It is shown that, over a field of characteristic not $2$, the dimension of an anisotropic quadratic Pfister form of trivial total signature is at most twice the dimension of some central division algebra of exponent $2$. The proof is based…

let $R$ be a regular local ring of a mixed characteristic $(0,p)$ where $p\neq 2$ is a prime number. Suppose that the quotient ring $R/pR$ is also regular. Fix a non-degenerate Pfister form $Q(T_{1},\ldots,T_{2^{m}})$ over $R$ and an…

We associate an $(n_1+\dots+n_t-k(t-1))$-fold Pfister form to any $t$-tuple of $k$-linked Pfister forms of dimensions $2^{n_1},\dots,2^{n_t}$, and prove its invariance under the different symbol presentations of the forms with a common…

We study the essential dimension of the set of isometry classes of $m$-tuples $(\varphi_1,...,\varphi_m)$ of quadratic $n$-fold Pfister forms over a field $F$ such that the Witt class of $\varphi_1 \perp \ldots \perp \varphi_m$ lies in…

Let $F$ be a field of characteristic not $2$ with finitely many square classes. Using combinatorial arguments applied to objects related to vector spaces over finite fields, we deduce an upper bound for the number of Pfister forms over $F$.…

A theorem of Pfister asserts that every $12$-dimensional quadratic form with trivial discriminant and trivial Clifford invariant over a field of characteristic different from $2$ decomposes as a tensor product of a binary quadratic form and…

Let $Q$ be a positive-definite quaternary quadratic form with prime discriminant. We give an explicit lower bound on the number of representations of a positive integer $n$ by $Q$. This problem is connected with deriving an upper bound on…

In this note, we construct explicit examples of $F_Q$-minimal quadratic forms of dimension $5$ and $7$, where $F_Q$ is the function field of a conic over a field $F$ of characteristic $2$. The construction uses the fact that any set of $n$…

We prove that the essential dimension of the spinor group Spin_n grows exponentially with n; in particular, we give a precise formula for this essential dimension when n is not divisible by 4. We use this result to show that the number of…

Over a field of characteristic 2, we give a complete classification of quadratic and bilinear forms of dimension 5 that are minimal over the function field of an arbitrary conic. This completes the unique known case due to Faivre concerning…

We give an upper bound for the norm of the determinant of additively indecomposable, totally positive definite quadratic forms defined over the ring of integers of totally real number fields. We apply these results to find lower and upper…

We study singularities obtained by the contraction of the maximal divisor in compact (non kaehlerian) surfaces which contain global spherical shells. These singularities are of genus 1 or 2, may be Q-Gorenstein, numerically Gorenstein or…

To an orthogonal or unitary involution on a central simple algebra of degree 4, or to a symplectic involution on a central simple algebra of degree 8, we associate a Pfister form that characterises the decomposability of the algebra with…