The \(E_ 2(R)\)-normalized subgroups of \(\text{GL}_ 2(R)\) (Q1891504)

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring and let \(E_n(R)\) be the subgroup of \(\text{GL}_n(R)\) generated by the elementary matrices, where \(n\geq 2\). For each \(R\)-ideal \(\mathbf q\), let \(\text{GL}_n'(R,{\mathbf q})\) be the set of all matrices in \(\text{GL}_n(R)\) congruent to a scalar matrix, modulo \(\mathbf q\), and let \(E_n(R,{\mathbf q})\) be the normal subgroup of \(E_n(R)\) generated by the \(\mathbf q\)-elementary matrices. A subgroup \(S\) of \(\text{GL}_n(R)\) is called standard if and only if \(S\) is sandwiched between \(\text{GL}_n'(R,{\mathbf q})\) and \(E_n(R,{\mathbf q})\), for some \(\mathbf q\). It is known that, when \(n\geq 3\), the standard subgroups of \(\text{GL}_n(R)\) are precisely those normalized by \(E_n(R)\). The example \(R=\mathbb{Z}\), the ring of rational integers, shows that not even very much weaker versions of this result hold in general for \(n=2\). For anything like this result to carry over to \(\text{GL}_2(R)\) the ring \(R\) has to contain ``many'' units. Let \(D\) be a Dedekind domain of arithmetic type with infinitely many units. (``Most'' arithmetic Dedekind domains have units of infinite order.) In the principal result in this paper the author proves the existence of a number of arithmetic conditions on \(D\) which are \textit{necessary and sufficient} to ensure that the set of standard subgroups of \(\text{GL}_2(D)\) coincides with its set of \(E_2(D)\)-normalized subgroups. This is an interesting extension of a number of previous results (including some of the reviewer). Recently Costa and Keller have classified the \(E_2(R)\)-normalized subgroups of \(\text{SL}_2(R)\) for a large class of rings which includes all \(D\). (Crucial to their classification is the notion of a special type of additive subgroup of \(R\) called a radix.) In the last part of the paper the author lifts this extension to the \(E_2(D)\)- normalized subgroups of \(\text{GL}_2(D)\), for the case where \(D\) has no maximal ideal of index 2.