Equality of orthogonal transvection group and elementary orthogonal transvection group (Q1730851)

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring. An orthogonal \(R\)-module \(P\) is a finitely generated projective \(R\)-module of even rank with a nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form \(\left\langle ~,~\right\rangle \). An automorphism \(\tau\) of \(P\) is called an isotropic transvection if it has the form \(\tau (p):=p-\left\langle u,p\right\rangle v+\left\langle v,p\right\rangle u\) where \(u,v\in P\) are isotropic, and the subgroup of the orthogonal group \(O(P)\) generated by these transvections is denoted \(Trans_{O}(P,\left\langle ~,~\right\rangle )\). If \(I\) is an ideal of \(R\) then the group \(Trans_{O}(P,IP,\left\langle ~,~\right\rangle \) of relative isotropic transvections is generated by the \(\tau\) with at least one of \(u\) or \(v\) lying in \(IP\). The bilinear form \(\left\langle ~,~\right\rangle \) on \(P\) can be extended to an \(R\)-module \(Q\) of the form \(R^{2}\oplus P\) in such a way that the restriction of \(\left\langle ~,~\right\rangle \) to \(R^{2}\) is a hyperbolic plane. An isotropic orthogonal transvection on \(Q\) is called elementary if it has the the form \((a,b,p)\longmapsto(a,b+\left\langle p,q\right\rangle ,p-aq)\) or \((a,b,p)\longmapsto(a+\left\langle p,q\right\rangle ,b,p-bq)\) and the set of these transvections generates a subgroup of \(O(Q)\) denoted by \(ETrans_{O}(Q,\left\langle ~,~\right\rangle \). Similarly, the group \(ETrans_{O}(Q,IQ,\left\langle ~,~\right\rangle )\) is generated by the elementary isotropic transvections of \(Q\) which have \(q\in IQ\). The main theorem of the paper is (Theorem 4.23): If \(R=2R\) and \(P\) is locally split orthogonal of (even) rank \(\geq4\) then \(Trans_{O}(Q,IQ,\left\langle ~,~\right\rangle)=ETrans_{O}(Q,IQ,\left\langle ~,~\right\rangle )\).