Bounded generation of \(\text{SL}(n,A)\) (after D. Carter, G. Keller, and E. Paige). (Q2461601)

The paper presents unpublished work of D. Costa, G. Keller, and E. Paige. Let \(A\) be the ring of \(S\)-integers in a number field \(K\). Let \(n=2\) and \(A\) has infinitely many units or \(n\geq 3\). Here are the main two results: (1) there is a finite-index subgroup \(H\) of \(\text{SL}(n,A)\) such that every matrix in \(H\) is a product of a bounded number of elementary matrices, (2) for any non-scalar matrix \(T\) there is a finite-index, normal subgroup \(N\) of \(\text{SL}(n,A)\) such that every matrix in \(N\) is a product of a bounded number of conjugates of \(T\). The proofs are based on the Compactness Theorem, so no explicit bounds are obtained. On the other hand, for \(n\geq 3\), assuming generalized Riemann hypotheses, Carter and Keller obtained explicit bounds for (1) depending on \(n\) and \(K\). For \(n=2\), Cooke and Weinberger obtained an absolute bound in (1).