Finiteness properties of certain arithmetic groups in the function field case (Q1196328)

Arithmetic subgroups of reductive algebraic groups over number fields are finitely presentable, but in the case of global function fields the situation becomes more complicated. To attack this problem cohomological methods are often applied. A group \(\Gamma\) is called of type \(FP_ n\) if the \(Z\Gamma\)-module \(Z\) (with trivial \(\Gamma\)-module-structure, i.e. \(\gamma\cdot n = n\) for \(\gamma \in \Gamma\), \(n \in Z\)) admits a projective resolution which is finitely generated in dimensions \(\leq n\). The group \(\Gamma\) is of type \(FP_ 1\) if and only if \(\Gamma\) is finitely generated, and \(\Gamma\) is of type \(FP_ 2\) if it is finitely presented. Since the converse of the last assertion is not known one defines a group to be of type \(F_ n\) for \(n \geq 2\), if it is finitely presented and of type \(FP_ n\). The largest \(n\) such that \(\Gamma\) is of type \(F_ n\) is called the finiteness length of \(\Gamma \) and is denoted by \(\Phi(\Gamma)\). The main result of the paper under review is the following Theorem: \(\Phi(\text{SL}_ n(F_ q[t])) = n - 2\) if \(n \geq 2\) and \(q \geq 2^{n-2}\) (\(F_ q\) the finite field with \(q\) elements). The proof of the theorem uses a careful study of the action of \(\Gamma\) on the Bruhat-Tits building \(X\) of \(\text{GL}_{n+1}\) and a general result of K. Brown on the cellular action of groups on contractible CW- complexes.