\(A\)-identities for upper triangular matrices: a question of Henke and Regev. (Q1758965)

Let \(P_n\) be the vector space of multilinear polynomials of degree \(n\) in the free associative algebra \(K\langle X\rangle\) over a field \(K\) of characteristic 0. \textit{A. Henke} and \textit{A. Regev} [Isr. J. Math. 133, 339-355 (2003; Zbl 1026.16006)] suggested to study the \(A\)-polynomial identities of a PI-algebra \(R\), i.e., the polynomial identities which are in the subspace of \(P_n\) spanned by all even monomials \(x_{\sigma(1)}\cdots x_{\sigma(n)}\), where \(\sigma\) belongs to the alternating group \(A_n\). In particular, they calculated the \(A_n\)-cocharacter of the infinite dimensional Grassmann algebra \(E\). They also suggested that the minimal degree of the \(A\)-identities for the \(n\times n\) matrix algebra \(M_n(K)\) is \(2n+2\). The main result of the paper under review is that for any \(k\geq 0\) there exists an \(n_0\) such that for any \(n\geq n_0\) the minimal degree \(d(n)\) of the \(A\)-identities of the algebra \(UT_n(K)\) of the \(n\times n\) upper triangular matrices satisfies the inequality \(d(n)>2n+k\). The authors compute \(d(n)\) for small \(n\) and show that \(d(2)=5\), \(d(3)=8\), \(d(4)=10\), \(12\leq d(5)\leq 13\), and \(d(6)=15>2\times 6+2\). Combined with the methods of the proof of the main result, the latter inequality implies that \(d(n)>2n+2\) for all \(n\geq 6\). Since the polynomial identities of \(M_n(K)\) are in the T-ideal of the polynomial identities of \(UT_n(K)\), this gives a counterexample to the suggestion of Henke and Regev. As the authors mention, they have some reasons to believe that \(d(n)=[(5n+1)/2]\) for every \(n\), where as usual \([x]\) stands for the integer part of the real number \(x\), i.e., the largest integer \(\leq x\).