Half turns in characteristic 2. (Q490890): Difference between revisions

Let \(V\) be a nonsingular quadratic space over a field \(K\) of characteristic 2. An element of the orthogonal group is called a \textit{half turn} if it is a product of two distinct commuting reflections. The authors show that if \(n>4\), then every element \(\pi\) in the special orthogonal group \(\mathrm{SO}(V)\) is a product of an even number of half turns. If \(\dim B(\pi)=2k\), then the length of \(\pi\) with respect to the half turns is \(k\), \(k+1\), or \(k+2\). The case \(2K=K\) was done previously [\textit{E. W. Ellers}, J. Algebra 99, 275-294 (1986; Zbl 0587.20025)].