Frobenius groups and retract rationality

Let k$k$ be any field, G$G$ be a finite group acting on the rational function field k(_xg:g∈G)$k(x_g:g\in G)$ by h⋅_xg=_xhg$h\cdot x_g=x_{hg}$ for any h,g∈G$h,g\in G$. Define k(G)=k(_xg:g∈G)^G$k\left(G\right)=k{(x_g:g\in G)}^G$. Noether’s problem asks whether k(G)$k\left(G\right)$ is rational (= purely transcendental) over k$k$. A weaker notion, retract rationality introduced by Saltman, is also very useful for the study of Noether’s problem. We prove that, if G$G$ is a Frobenius group with abelian Frobenius kernel, then k(G)$k\left(G\right)$ is retract k$k$-rational for any field k$k$ satisfying some mild conditions. As an application, we show that, for any algebraic number field k$k$, for any Frobenius group G$G$ with Frobenius complement isomorphic to S_L2(_F5)$S{L}_2\left({\mathbb{F}}_5\right)$, there is a Galois extension field K$K$ over k$k$ whose Galois group is isomorphic to G$G$, i.e. the inverse Galois problem is valid for the pair (G,k)$(G,k)$. The same result is true for any non-solvable Frobenius group if k(_ζ8)$k\left({\zeta }_8\right)$ is a cyclic extension of k$k$.