Compact subgroups of linear algebraic groups (Q1270080)

The author gives a qualitative classification of all compact subgroups \(\Gamma\subset\text{GL}_n(F)\) where \(F\) is a local field. It is shown that up to finite index and a finite number of abelian subquotients, \(\Gamma\) is an open compact subgroup of \(H(E)\), where \(H\) is a linear algebraic group over a closed subfield \(E\subset F\). In the case when \(\Gamma\) is Zariski dense in a connected semi-simple group, the author gives a precise openness result for the closure of the commutator group of \(\Gamma\). When \(\text{char }F=0\), such results are well-known by results of Chevalley and Weyl. Such results in positive characteristics are needed to study Galois representations associated to function fields.