We formulate a version of the integral Hodge conjecture for categories, prove the conjecture for two-dimensional Calabi–Yau categories which are suitably deformation equivalent to the derived category of a K3 or abelian surface, and use this to deduce cases of the usual integral Hodge conjecture for varieties. Along the way, we prove a version of the variational integral Hodge conjecture for families of two-dimensional Calabi–Yau categories, as well as a general smoothness result for relative moduli spaces of objects in such families. Our machinery also has applications to the structure of intermediate Jacobians, such as a criterion in terms of derived categories for when they split as a sum of Jacobians of curves.

Let τ be the involution changing the sign of two coordinates in ℙ4. We prove that τ induces the identity action on the second Chow group of the intersection of a τ-invariant cubic with a τ-invariant quadric hypersurface in ℙ4. Let lτ and Πτ be the one- and two-dimensional components of the fixed locus of the involution τ. We describe the generalized Prymian associated with the projection of a τ-invariant cubic 𝓵 ⊂ P4 from lτ onto Πτ in terms of the Prymians 𝓅2 and 𝓅3 associated with the double covers of two irreducible components, of degree 2 and 3, respectively, of the reducible discriminant curve. This gives a precise description of the induced action of the involution τ on the continuous part of the Chow group CH2 (𝓵). The action on the subgroup corresponding to 𝓅3 is the identity, and the action on the subgroup corresponding to 𝓅2 is the multiplication by —1.

We show that a standard conic bundle over a minimal rational surface is rational and its Jacobian splits as the direct sum of Jacobians of curves if and only if its derived category admits a semiorthogonal decomposition by exceptional objects and the derived categories of those curves. Moreover, such a decomposition gives the splitting of the intermediate Jacobian also when the surface is not minimal.