Degree 2 del Pezzo surface bundles and stable rationality

Abstract

We study the arithmetic of del Pezzo surfaces $Y$ of degree 2 over a function field, and in particular, the cokernel of the homomorphism from the Picard group to the Galois-invariants of the geometric Picard group $\operatorname{Pic} Y \rightarrow(\operatorname{Pic} \bar{Y})^{G}$. Applying this to a fibration $\pi:X\to S$ in del Pezzo surfaces of degree 2 over a rational surface $S$, we construct examples with nontrivial relative unramified cohomology group $H^2_{nr,\pi}(k(X)/k)$. A specialization argument implies the failure of stable rationality of varieties specializing to $X$.