Separable exterior squares over finite fields. (Q1415360)

A square matrix is called separable if its characteristic polynomial has no repeated roots, semisimple if the same is true of its minimum polynomial and cyclic if these two polynomials are the same. Let \(X\) denote a randomly chosen non-singular \(d\times d\) matrix over the finite field \(\mathbb F_q\). Assuming that \(d\geq 3\), the author gives estimates, for large \(q\), of the probability that the exterior square \(X^{\wedge 2}\) be separable, semisimple or cyclic. For example, the probability of \(X^{\wedge 2}\) being non-separable is \(2q^{-1}+ O(q^{-2})\), and similar results hold in the other cases. Quite detailed considerations are involved in the proofs, although the semisimple case is rather easier because, as the author shows, \(X^{\wedge 2}\) is semisimple if and only if \(X\) is.