The Witt group of Laurent polynomials (Q1347840)

Let \(A\) be an associative ring with involution, in which \(2\) is invertible, and let \(W(A)\) denote the Witt group of \(\varepsilon\)-hermitian spaces over \(A\), where \(\varepsilon = \pm 1\). The involution extends to an involution, which fixes \(t\), on the rings \(A[t]\) and \(A[t,t^{-1}]\). The authors reprove and generalize results about the relation between the Witt groups \(W(A)\), \(W(A[t])\), and \(W(A[t,t^{-1}])\), originally due independently to \textit{M. Karoubi} [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér., IV. Sér. 8, 99-155 (1975; Zbl 0345.18007)] and \textit{A. A. Ranicki} [Comment. Math. Helv. 49, 137-167 (1974; Zbl 0293.18021)]. The first such result is that the canonical homomorphism \[ W(A) \rightarrow W(A[t]) \] is an isomorphism. To describe the relation between \(W(A)\) and \(W(A[t,t^{-1}])\) the authors introduce a variant \(W'(A[t,t^{-1}])\) of the Witt group, where the underlying \(A[t,t^{-1}]\)-modules are extended from \(A\), and show that there is a canonical isomorphism \[ W(A) \oplus W(A) \cong W'(A[t,t^{-1}]). \] The natural map from \(W'(A[t,t^{-1}])\) to \(W(A[t,t^{-1}])\) is then shown to be surjective if \[ H^2(\mathbb Z/2,K_{-1}(A)) = 0, \] and an isomorphism if \(K_0(A) = K_0(A[t]) = K_0(A[t,t^{-1}])\). Examples are given, which illustrate the necessity of the additional assumptions on \(A\). The proofs essentially only use known results on the \(K\)-theory of the ring of Laurent polynomials.