The $L$-function of the surface parametrizing cuboids

Abstract

In this note, we compute the $L$-function of the projective smooth surface $S$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ that parametrizes cuboids whose geometric properties are studied in detail by Stoll and Testa. As a byproduct, we completely determine the structure of ${\rm Pic}(S_{\overline{\mathbb{Q}}})$ as a ${\rm Gal}(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q})$-module.