A new proof of the Artin-Springer theorem in Schur index 2

Abstract

We provide a new proof of the analogue of the Artin-Springer theorem for groups of type $\mathsf{D}$ that can be represented by similitudes over an algebra of Schur index $2$: an anisotropic generalized quadratic form over a quaternion algebra $Q$ remains anisotropic after generic splitting of $Q$, hence also under odd degree field extensions of the base field. Our proof is characteristic free and does not use the excellence property.