We define and study a numerical invariant of an algebraic group action which we call the canonical dimension. We then apply the resulting theory to the problem of computing the minimal number of parameters required to define a generic hypersurface of degree d in P n−1 .
An invariant for symplectic involutions on central simple algebras of degree divisible by 4 over fields of characteristic different from 2 is defined on the basis of Rost's cohomological invariant of degree 3 for torsors under symplectic groups. We relate this invariant to trace forms and show how its triviality yields a decomposability criterion for algebras of degree 8 with symplectic involution.
Elaborating on techniques of Bayer-Fluckiger and Parimala, we prove the following strong version of Serre's Conjecture II for classical groups: let G be a simply connected absolutely simple group of outer type A n or of type B n , C n or D n (non trialitarian) defined over an arbitrary field F. If the separable dimension of F is at most 2 for every torsion prime of G, then every G-torsor is trivial.
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