THE pp CONJECTURE FOR SPACES OF ORDERINGS OF RATIONAL CONICS

Abstract

First counterexamples are given to a basic question raised in [10]. The paper considers the space of orderings (X,G) of the function field of a real irreducible conic [Formula: see text] over the field ℚ of rational numbers. It is shown that the pp conjecture fails to hold for such a space of orderings when [Formula: see text] has no rational points. In this case, it is shown that the pp conjecture "almost holds" in the sense that, if a pp formula holds on each finite subspace of (X,G), then it holds on each proper subspace of (X,G). For pp formulas which are product-free and 1-related, the pp conjecture is known to be true, at least if the stability index is finite [11]. The counterexamples constructed here are the simplest sort of pp formulas which are not product-free and 1-related.