A new proof of a theorem of Suslin (Q2502110): Difference between revisions

In the appendix to his paper ``Torsion in \(K_2\) of fields'' [\(K\)-Theory 1, 5--29 (1987; Zbl 0635.12015)], \textit{A. A. Suslin} proved that for an infinite field \(F\), \(H_2(\text{SL}_2(F),\mathbb Z)\) is isomorphic to the fibre product \(K^M_2(F)\times_{I^2/I^3}I^2(F)\), where \(K^M_n(F)\) is the \(n\)th Milnor \(K\)-group of \(F\) and \(I= I(F)\) is the ideal of even-dimensional forms in the Witt ring \(W(F)\). The proof uses the Matsumoto-Moore presentation of the group \(H_2(\text{Sp}(F),\mathbb Z)= H_2(\text{SL}_2(F),\mathbb Z)\) as well as the characterisation of the 2-torsion of \(K^M_2(F)\) as the set of all elements of the form \(\{-1, a\}\). In the paper under review, the author gives an alternative proof of Suslin's theorem which by-passes the theorem of Matsumoto and Moore. Instead, the author proves the result by a careful analysis of the homology spectral sequence associated to a complex of \(\text{SL}_2(F)\)-modules which is constructed using the action of \(\text{SL}_2(F)\) on the projective line. The ideal \(I(F)\) -- as well as the Grothendieck-Witt ring, \(\text{GW}(F)\), of the field -- appear naturally, but intriguingly, as terms in this spectral sequence. Suslin's 2-torsion result referred to above is also an essential ingredient in the proof.