Bloch-Wigner theorem over rings with many units. (Q543329): Difference between revisions

We say that a commutative ring \(R\) has many units if given \(d\geq 2\) and finitely many surjective linear forms \(f_i\colon R^d\to R\) there is \(v\in R^d\) so that each \(f_i(v)\) is a unit. (In fact \(d=2\) suffices.) Thus a semilocal ring has many units if and only if its residue fields are infinite. Let \(R\) be a ring with many units. This paper studies the connection between the third homology of \(\text{GL}_2(R)\) and a `Bloch group' describing relations between tensors of the form \(x\otimes(1-x)\) where both \(x\) and \(1-x\) are units. The case where \(R\) is an algebraically closed field was studied by Bloch and Wigner. Next \textit{A. A. Suslin} treated the case where \(R\) is an infinite field [Proc. Steklov Inst. Math. 183, 217-239 (1991); translation from Tr. Mat. Inst. Steklova 183, 180-199 (1990; Zbl 0741.19005)].