A nice group structure on the orbit space of unimodular rows (Q2481126): Difference between revisions

Let \(A\) be a commutative noetherian ring with unity. If \(A\) is \(d\)-dimensional, then the group structure on \(\text{ Um}_{d+1}(A)/\text{ E}_{d+1}(A)\) defined by W. van der Kallen is said to be \textit{nice} if it satisfies the product formula \[ [(a,a_1,\dots,a_d)]*[(b,b_1,\dots,b_d)]=[(ab,a_1,\dots,a_d)]. \] Among other results, the authors prove that this group structure is nice if \(A\) is an affine algebra of dimension \(d\geq2\) over a perfect field \(k\) of characteristic different from \(2\) so that c.d.\(_2k\leq1\); or if \(A=R[X]\), where \(R\) is local of dimension \(d\geq2\), and \(2R=R\). On the other hand, if \(A\) is of stable dimension \(d\geq2\), and the orbit space \(\text{ Um}_{d+1}(A)/\text{ E}_{d+1}(A)\) has a nice group structure, then the universal weak \((d+1)\)-Mennike symbol group \(\text{WMS}_{d+1}(A)\) and the universal ordinary \((d+1)\)-Mennike symbol group \(\text{WMS}_{d+1}(A)\) are isomorphic (stable dimension is one less than the stable rank).