Products of commutators on a general linear group over a division algebra (Q2284607)

Let \(D\) be a division ring over its center \(K\) of index \(c > 1\), and let \(\mathrm{ GL}_n(D)\) be the group of invertible \(n \times n\) matrices over \(D\). Let \(\mathrm{ SL}_n(D) = \{d \in \mathrm{ GL}_n(D) \,|\, \mathrm{ Nrd} \,d = 1\},\) where \(\mathrm{ Nrd} \,d\) is the reduced norm of \(d\). Then there exists a form \(\mathcal{G}\) of the group \(\mathrm{ SL}_{cn}\) such that \(\mathcal{G}(K) = \mathrm{ SL}_n(D).\) The subgroup \(\mathcal{G}^+(K)\) generated by unipotent elements of \(\mathcal{G}(K)\) is denoted by \(E_n(D).\) This is a group generated by the transvections of \(\mathrm{ GL}_n(D)\). The group \(E_n(D)/Z(E_n(D))\) is simple and \(E_n(D) \unlhd\mathcal{G}(K) = \mathrm{ SL}_n(D), \,\,\, \mathrm{ SL}_n(D)/E_n(D) \approx \mathrm{ SL}_1(D)/[D^\ast, D^\ast].\) The authors prove the following theorem: Let \(w = \prod_{i=1}^{k} [x_i,y_i ]\) and let \(\widetilde{w}: D^{* 2k} \rightarrow D^*\) be the corresponding word map. Further, let \(\widetilde{w} : \mathrm{ GL}_n(D)^{2k} \rightarrow E_n(D)\) be a word map on \(\mathrm{ GL}_n(D)\) corresponding to the same word \(w\). Assume that \(\widetilde{w}(D^{* 2k}) = [D^*, D^*]\). Then \(\widetilde{w}(\mathrm{ GL}_n(D)^{2k}) \supset E_n(D) \backslash Z(E_n(D)).\) If in addition \(n > 2\), then \(\widetilde{w}(E_n(D)^{2k}) \supset E_n(D) \backslash Z(E_n(D)).\) In particular, if every element of \([D^*,D^*]\) is the commutator of elements of \(D^*\) then each noncentral element of \(E_n(D)\) is a commutator of elements of \(E_n(D).\)