Factorization by elementary matrices, null-homotopy and products of exponentials for invertible matrices over rings (Q2009429)

Let \(R\) be a commutative unital ring. Then \(R\) has Bass stable rank \(\mathrm{bsr}(R)\) equal to \(1\) if whenever \(x_{1}R+x_{2}R=R\) for \(x_{1},x_{2}\in R\) there exists \(y\in R\) such that \(x_{1}+yx_{2}\) is a unit in \(R\) (see [\textit{H. Bass}, Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 22, 489--544 (1964; Zbl 0248.18025)]). The authors show that if \(\mathrm{bsr}(R)=\) \(1\) then every element of \(\mathrm{SL}_{n}(R)\) is a product of elementary matrices. In particular if \(R\) is a Banach algebra with \(\mathrm{bsr}(R)=1\), then every element of \(\mathrm{SL}_{n}(R)\) is null-homotopic. They then consider corresponding multiplicative versions such as: if \(\mathrm{bsr}(R)=1\) and every unit in \(R\) has a logarithm, then each element of \(\mathrm{GL}_{n}(R)\) is a product of at most \(6\) exponentials. These theorems are made more precise in the case that \(R\) is a functional ring over a Banach algebra.