Kato conjecture and motivic cohomology over finite fields

Abstract

For an arithmetical scheme X, K. Kato introduced a certain complex of Gersten-Bloch-Ogus type whose component in degree a involves Galois cohomology groups of the residue fields of all the points of X of dimension a. He stated a conjecture on its homology generalizing the fundamental exact sequences for Brauer groups of global fields. We prove the conjecture over a finite field assuming resolution of singularities. Thanks to a recently established result on resolution of singularities for embedded surfaces, it implies the unconditional vanishing of the homology up to degree 4 for X projective smooth over a finite field. We give an application to finiteness questions for some motivic cohomology groups over finite fields.