Witt groups of Hermitian forms over \(\ast\)-fields (Q1186762)

A \(\ast\)-field is a pair \((D,\ast)\), where \(D\) is a skew field and \(\ast\) is an involution on \(D\). The author examines two structures related to \((D,\ast)\). The first is the Witt group \(W(D,\ast)\), whereas the second is the ring of continuous functions \({\mathcal C}(X_ D,\mathbb{Z})\) defined on the topological space \(X_ D\) of \(\ast\)-orderings of \((D,\ast)\) [in the meaning of the author's paper in Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 310, 837-850 (1988; Zbl 0706.12005)]. Signatures with respect to all \(\ast\)-orderings induce a group homomorphism \(c: W(D,\ast)\to{\mathcal C}(X_ D,\mathbb{Z})\). Although the group \(W(D,\ast)\) can not be equipped with a ring structure compatible with the homomorphism \(c\) (unless \(D\) is commutative or a quaternion algebra with standard involution) it is possible to factor this group by the subgroup of \(\ker c\) generated by all ``obstacles'' to get a group \(WR(D,\ast)\) that can already be given a ring structure. It is shown that group homomorphisms \(\sigma: W(D,\ast)\to\mathbb{Z}\) such that \(\sigma(\langle 1\rangle)=1\), \(\sigma(\langle a\rangle)=\pm1\) (ring homomorphisms \(\sigma: WR(D,\ast)\to\mathbb{Z})\) are in \(1-1\) correspondence with Baer orderings (\(\ast\)-orderings) of \((D,\ast)\). The main part of the paper focuses on the description of the reduced Witt ring \(WR_{red}(D,\ast):=c(W(D,\ast))\). The problem has a more general setting. The author develops a theory of Hermitian forms ``reduced modulo a preordering \(T\)''. The ring \(W_ T(D,\ast)\) (\(W_ T(D,\ast)=WR_{red}(D,\ast)\) for the smallest preordering of \((D,\ast)\)) is proved to be representational. Since \(\ast\)-valuations turn out to play a crucial role in this theory, the author discusses various versions of compatibility between \(\ast\)-valuations and preorderings. The paper ends with interesting examples.