Let X be a nice variety over a number field k. We characterise in pure “descent-type” terms some inequivalent obstruction sets refining the inclusion $X{{(}_k)}^{ét,Br}\subset X{{(}_k)}^{Br₁}$. In the first part, we apply ideas from the proof of $X{{(}_k)}^{ét,Br}=X{{(}_k)}^{{}_k}$ by Skorobogatov and Demarche to new cases, by proving a comparison theorem for obstruction sets. In the second part, we show that if $\subset {\subset }_k$ are such that $\subset Ext\left({,}_k\right)$, then $X{{(}_k)}^{}=X{{(}_k)}^{}$. This allows us to conclude, among other things, that $X{{(}_k)}^{ét,Br}=X{{(}_k)}^{{}_k}$ and $X{{(}_k)}^{Sol,Br₁}=X{{(}_k)}^{So{l}_k}$.

A variety $X$ over a field $K$ is of Hilbert type if $X\left(K\right)$ is not thin. We prove that if $f:X\to S$ is a dominant morphism of $K$-varieties and both $S$ and all fibers $f^{-1}\left(s\right)$, $s\in S\left(K\right)$, are of Hilbert type, then so is $X$. We apply this to answer a question of Serre on products of varieties and to generalize a result of Colliot-Thélène and Sansuc on algebraic groups.

We apply G. Prasad’s volume formula for the arithmetic quotients of semi-simple groups and Bruhat-Tits theory to study the covolumes of arithmetic subgroups of $SO(1,n)$. As a result we prove that for any even dimension $n$ there exists a unique compact arithmetic hyperbolic $n$-orbifold of the smallest volume. We give a formula for the Euler-Poincaré characteristic of the orbifolds and present an explicit description of their fundamental groups as the stabilizers of certain lattices in quadratic spaces. We...