The isomorphism and isogeny theorems for reductive algebraic groups (Q1293116)

The paper under review provides an extremely simple proof for two classical fundamental theorems in algebraic group theory: the isomorphism and isogeny theorems for reductive groups over algebraically closed fields: any isomorphism (respectively, isogeny) of root data of reductive groups is induced by some isomorphism (respectively, isogeny) of these reductive groups. There have been quite a few proofs for these two fundamental results, among other things, Chevalley's for the main case of semisimple groups and Takeuchi's by constructing the graph of an isomorphism or an isogeny as a closed subgroup of the direct product by preassigning an irreducible cocommutative Hopf algebra [cf. \textit{M. Takeuchi}, J. Algebra 85, 179-196 (1983; Zbl 0526.20036)]. The proof presented in this paper is much simpler than any of the existing ones. It is patterned after Takeuchi's and provides a short deduction, following Chevalley's with some simplications, of the isogeny theorem in the case of semisimple rank \(1\). The paper also discusses and obtains some extensions of some isogeny related properties of reductive groups, including the isogeny theorem. The proof presented in this paper was sketched in the author's article with the same title [in Algebraic groups and their representations, NATO ASI Ser., Ser. C, Math. Phys. Sci. 233-240 (1998; Zbl 0920.20040)]. Due to its elegance and shortness, the proof presented in this paper may be included in any upcoming text books on algebraic groups at the point of development where the theorems can first be reasonably formulated.