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Geometric proofs of theorems of Ax-Kochen and Eršov
- American Journal of Mathematics
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 138, Number 1, February 2016
- pp. 181-199
- 10.1353/ajm.2016.0008
- Article
- Additional Information
We give an algebraic geometric proof of the Theorem of Ax and Kochen on $p$-adic diophantine equations in many variables. Unlike Ax-Kochen’s proof, ours does not use any notions from mathematical logic and is based on weak toroidalization of morphisms. We also show how this geometric approach yields new proofs of the Ax-Kochen-Er{\v{s}}ov transfer principle for local fields, and of quantifier elimination theorems of Basarab and Pas.