Distinguished representations, base change, and reducibility for unitary groups

We show the equality of the local Asai L-functions defined via the Rankin-Selberg method and the Langlands-Shahidi method for a square integrable representation of GL(n,E). As a consequence we characterise reducibility of certain induced representations of U(n,n), and the image of the base change map from U(n) to GL(n,E) in terms of GL(n,F)-distinguishedness.