Hodge-theoretic obstruction to existence of quaternion algebras

Abstract

The class in the Brauer group of a quaternion algebra over a field is 2-torsion. We study the following question: Which 2-torsion elements of the Brauer group of a complex function field are representable by quaternion algebras? Using intersection theory to show that a certain cohomology class (on a smooth projective model) is the class of an algebraic cycle, we arrive at an obstruction, defined on a subgroup of the 2-torsion of the Brauer group, to representability by quaternion algebras. For the function fields of some complex threefolds, the obstruction map is computed and found to be nontrivial.