Central simple algebras with involution of the first kind. (Q558370): Difference between revisions

This paper gives ingenious elementary proofs of various (mostly classical) results on central simple algebras, in particular of Albert's theorems asserting that (1)~every central simple algebra of exponent~2 has an involution of the first kind, i.e., a linear anti-automorphism of period~2, and that (2)~every central simple algebra of exponent~2 and degree~4 is a tensor product of two quaternion algebras. In a few extra lines, the arguments also yield Kneser's theorem on the extension of involutions of the first kind from a simple subalgebra. No assumption is made on the characteristic.