Bounded generation of \(\mathrm{SL}_2\) over rings of \(S\)-integers with infinitely many units (Q1755545): Difference between revisions

Let \(k\) be a number field. Given a finite subset \(S\) of the set \(V^k\) of valuations of \(k\) containing the set of archimedian valuations, we let \(O\) denote the ring of S-integers in k, i.e., \[O = \{a\in k^\times | v(a)\geq 0\; \forall v\in V^{k}\setminus S \} \cup \{0\}. \] We let \(\mathrm{SL}_{2}(O)\) denote the group of unimodular \(2\times2\)-matrices over \(O\) and elemantry matrices of \(\mathrm{SL}_{2}(O)\) are those of next forms: \(\left( \begin{array}{cc} 1 & a \\ 0 & 1 \\ \end{array} \right)\) and \( \left( \begin{array}{cc} 1 & 0 \\ b & 1 \\ \end{array} \right)\) where \((a, b)\in O^2\). In this paper, the authors prove that if the group of units \(O^\times\) is infinite then every matrix in \(\mathrm{SL}_{2}(O)\) is a product of at most \(9\) elementary matrices. As a consequence, they obtain a new proof of the fact that \(\mathrm{SL}_{2}(O)\) is boundedly generated as an abstract group that uses only standard results from algebraic number theory.