Subgroups of classical groups generated by transvections or Siegel transvections. II: Embeddings in orthogonal groups (Q1379520)

This paper continues the determination of subgroups of classical groups generated by (Siegel) transvections which was begun in part I [ibid., 281-322 (1997; see the preceding review Zbl 0891.20034)]. Let \(Y\) be a classical group and \(G\) a subgroup of \(Y\) generated by (Siegel) transvections. Assume \(G\) is defined over a field and has rank at least 3. Apart from some ``exceptional cases'', and neglecting some cases associated to non-commutative skew fields of characteristic 2 or non-perfect fields of characteristic 2, \(G/Z(G)\) is isomorphic to a projective classical group \(S/Z(S)\). In this situation, the classical group \(S\) is said to embed in the classical group \(Y\) such that (Siegel) transvections act as (Siegel) transvections. The author gives all the possible such embeddings in orthogonal groups by using methods of geometric algebra and the fundamental theorem of projective geometry. Finally, the author proves that the ``exceptional cases'' mentioned above cannot occur as subgroups of classical groups.