Invariant subspaces of affine groups - An algebraic version of a theorem of Bieberbach (Q1075595)

Let E be an n-dimensional affine space over a commutative field K and T the vector space of translations of E. For an affine automorphism \(\alpha\) let \({\bar \alpha}\): \(T\to T\) \(:\tau \to \alpha \tau \alpha^{- 1}\). Then \(\alpha\) is called almost orthogonal if \(T=\ker ({\bar \alpha}- 1)\oplus im({\bar \alpha}-1),\) or equivalently, if there is a unique nonempty maximal \(\alpha\)-invariant subspace \(F\subset E\) such that \(\alpha |_ F\) is a translation. Using these concepts the authors show that Bieberbach's theorem on discrete groups of Euclidean affine isometries is a simple consequence of a purely algebraic result.