Covering GL(V) and products of blockcyclic matrices (Q1938707)

Let \(\pi \in\) GL(V) and let \(\Omega\) be a non-central conjugacy class of GL(V). Let \(c^*(\Omega)\) denote the smallest number with the following property: \((c^*)\) If \(\pi \in\) GL(V) is non-scalar and satisfies det(\(\pi\)) = det\((\Omega^k)\), then \(\pi \in \Omega^k.\) A linear transformation \(\varphi \in\) GL(V) (or the conjugacy class of \(\varphi\)) is called blockcyclic if the number of invariant divisors equal to 1 is \(\geq \frac{n}{2}\). The main result that the authors obtain is the following theorem: Let \(n \in \mathbb{N}_{\geq 3}\) and \(|\)K\(|\) \(\geq 4\). If \(\Omega\) is a non-central conjugacy class and \(\pi\in\) GL(V) is non-scalar and satisfies det\((\pi) =\) det\((\Omega^n)\), then \(\pi \in \Omega^n\). Hence \(c^*\)(GL(V)) \(\leq n\). Furthermore, if \(\Omega\) is a blockcyclic conjugacy class and \(\pi \in\) GL(V) is non-scalar and satisfies det\((\pi)\) = det\((\Omega^4)\), then \(\pi \in \Omega^4\). Hence \(c^*(\Omega) \leq 4\) for blockcyclic matrices. If \(n = 2\) and \(\mid\)K\(\mid\) \(\geq\) 4, then \(\pi \in \Omega^3\) for each non-central conjugacy class \(\Omega\) and \(\pi \in\) GL(V), provided that \(\pi\) is non-scalar and det\((\pi)\) = det\((\Omega^3)\).