SEMIABELIAN VARIETIES OVER SEPARABLY CLOSED FIELDS, MAXIMAL DIVISIBLE SUBGROUPS, AND EXACT SEQUENCES

Abstract

Given a separably closed field $K$ of characteristic $p>0$ and finite degree of imperfection, we study the $\sharp$ functor which takes a semiabelian variety $G$ over $K$ to the maximal divisible subgroup of $G(K)$. Our main result is an example where $G^{\sharp }$, as a ‘type-definable group’ in $K$, does not have ‘relative Morley rank’, yielding a counterexample to a claim in Hrushovski [J. Amer. Math. Soc. 9 (1996), 667–690]. Our methods involve studying the question of the preservation of exact sequences by the $\sharp$ functor, and relating this to issues of descent as well as model-theoretic properties of $G^{\sharp }$. We mention some characteristic 0 analogues of these ‘exactness-descent’ results, where differential algebraic methods are more prominent. We also develop the notion of an iterative D-structure on a group scheme over an iterative Hasse field, which is interesting in its own right, as well as providing a uniform treatment of the characteristic 0 and characteristic $p$ cases of ‘exactness descent’.