Normal subgroups generated by a single polynomial automorphism (Q2175525)

This paper is concerned with the group of algebraic automorphisms of the affine space \(\mathbf{K}^n\). The tame subgroup of \(\operatorname{Aut}(\mathbf{K}^n)\) is the subgroup generated by affine transformations and elementary automorphisms. It is not easy to find subgroups lying in between the tame subgroup and the group of affine transformations. In this spirit a natural problem is to study the subgroup or normal subgroup generated by a single element of specific type. In this paper, the author considers \(\operatorname{SA}_n(\mathbf{K})\), the group of automorphisms of \(\mathbf{K}^n\) of unital Jacobian. He conjectures that the normal closure of \(\operatorname{SL}_n(\mathbf{K})\) in \(\operatorname{SA}_n(\mathbf{K})\) is \(\operatorname{SA}_n(\mathbf{K})\) itself if the characteristic of \(\mathbf{K}\) is not two. The main result of the paper says that this normal closure is in fact the normal closure of a single automorphism \(\gamma\) if \(\gamma\) is not ``too complicated'' as we explain below. A tame automorphism is a composition of affine transformations and triangular automorphisms where a triangular automorphism is an automorphism of the form \[ (x_1,\cdots, x_n)\mapsto (a_1x_1+P_1,a_2x_2+P_2(x_1),\cdots, a_nx_n+P_n(x_1,\cdots,x_{n-1})). \] A tame automorphism is 4-triangular if it can be written as the composition of affine transformations with less than four triangular automorphisms; this is what ``not too complicated'' means.