Unitary units in modular group algebras (Q1340221)

Let \(G\) be a group and \(K\) a commutative ring with 1. Let \(V(KG)\) be the group of the normalized units (i.e. of augmentation 1) in the group algebra \(KG\). The anti-automorphism \(g \mapsto g^{-1}\) is extended linearly to an anti-automorphism \(a \mapsto a^*\) of \(KG\). This extension leaves \(V(KG)\) setwise invariant, and its restriction to \(V(KG)\) followed by \(v\mapsto v^{-1}\) gives an automorphism of \(V(KG)\). The elements of \(V(KG)\) fixed by this automorphism form a subgroup \(V_ *(KG)\) of \(V(KG)\). These elements are called unitary normalized units of \(KG\). If \(g\) is an element of finite order \(| g|\) in \(G\) then the elements \(1 + (g - 1)h \sum^{| g| - 1}_{i = 0} g^ i\) when \(h \in G\), are called bicyclic units of \(KG\) (examined by J. Ritter and S. K. Sehgal, 1989). Let \(G\) be a nonabelian \(p\)-group and \(K\) a commutative ring of characteristic \(p\) with 1. The authors describe the \(K\) and \(G\) for which 1) all bicyclic units of \(KG\) are unitary (Theorem 2.1) and 2) the group \(V_ *(KG)\) is normal in \(V(KG)\) when the group \(G\) is locally finite and the ring \(K\) is a field (Theorem 1.1).