Symbol length in positive characteristic

Abstract

We show that any central simple algebra of exponent $p$ in prime characteristic $p$ that is split by a $p$-extension of degree $p^n$ is Brauer equivalent to a tensor product of $2\cdot p^{n-1}-1$ cyclic algebras of degree $p$. If $p=2$ and $n\geq3$, we improve this result by showing that such an algebra is Brauer equivalent to a tensor product of $5\cdot2^{n-3}-1$ quaternion algebras. Furthermore, we provide new proofs for some bounds on the minimum number of cyclic algebras of degree $p$ that is needed to represent Brauer classes of central simple algebras of exponent $p$ in prime characteristic $p$, which have previously been obtained by different methods.