Torsion order of smooth projective surfaces (with an appendix by J.-L. Colliot-Thélène)

Abstract

To a smooth projective variety $X$ whose Chow group of $0$-cycles is $\mathbf Q$-universally trivial one can associate its torsion index $\mathrm{Tor}(X)$, the smallest multiple of the diagonal appearing in a cycle-theoretic decomposition \`a la Bloch-Srinivas. We show that $\mathrm{Tor}(X)$ is the exponent of the torsion in the N\'eron-Severi-group of $X$ when $X$ is a surface over an algebraically closed field $k$, up to a power of the exponential characteristic of $k$.