Commutator lengths in general linear group over a skew-field (Q2151737)

\textit{Commutator lenght} \(C(G)\) of a group \(G\) is a minimal number \(n\) such that any elemant \(g\in G\) is a product of \(n\) commuators: \[ g=\prod_{i=1}^n a_ib_ia_i^{-1}b_i^{-1} \] Commutator length theory is a part of \textit{wordmap theory}. \(C(G)\) is a minimal \(n\) such that any element of \(G\) is in the image of the word map \(W\) \[ W=\prod_{i=1}^n [a_ib_i] \] Theory for wordmap for the \(U=\prod x_i^n\) (Waring problem for groups) was developed by Aner Shalev. The paper provides give an upper and lower estimate for the maximal commutator length of a noncentral element of the elementary subgroup of the general linear group over a skew-field based on the maximal commutator length of an element of the multiplicative group of that skew-field. The main results are following. for any integers \({n\ge 2}\) and \({d\ge 1}\) there exists a positive integer \(N\) such that for any skew-field \(D\) (not necessarily finite-dimensional over centre) and any \(\tau\in D^*\), if \(\tau\) is not a product of \(N\) commutators in multiplicative group, then \(\operatorname{diag}(1,\ldots,1,\tau)\) is not a product of \(d\) commutators in general linear group of \(n\times n\) matrices. In addition, if we have \(\tau\in [D^*,D^*]\), then the matrix \(\operatorname{diag}(1,\ldots,1,\tau)\) belong to the elementary subgroup. Therefore, if the derived subgroup of the multiplicative group contain an element of a large commutator length, then the elementary group also contain an element of a large commutator length. In the present paper author proves an effective version of this statement. Namely he shows that one can take \(N=d(8n^2-13n+8)-2n^2+3n-1\) (Theorem 1). Therefore, there is a lower estimate on the maximal commutator length in the elementary group (Corollary 1), that depend on maximal commutator length in derived subgroup of the multiplicative group. Hence there is a necessary condition for expressing an arbitrary noncentral element as a commutator (Corollary 2). Theorm 2 provide commutator length estimation for skew fields. I reccommend also to see reviews [\textit{Mai Hoang Bien} et al., Linear Algebra Appl. 646, 119--131 (2022; Zbl 1495.17048); \textit{A. Dubouloz} et al., Doc. Math. 26, 1601--1627 (2021; Zbl 1491.17017)].