Euler class groups and the homology of elementary and special linear groups (Q2411322)

We say that an associative algebra \(A\) has many units if it contains a central subring \(R\) with many units in the sense of \textit{Yu. P. Nesterenko} and \textit{A. A. Suslin} [Math. USSR, Izv. 34, No. 1, 121--145 (1990; Zbl 0684.18001); translation from Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Mat. 53, No. 1, 121--146 (1989)]. For instance, \(R\) could be an infinite field or a local ring with infinite residue field. Nesterenko and Suslin showed for such \(A\) that the homomorphism \(H_k(\text{GL}_n(A))\to H_k(\text{GL}(A))\) is surjective for \(n\geq k+\text{sr} (A) -1\) and injective for \(n\geq k+\text{sr} (A) \). Here \(\text{sr} (A)\) is the stable rank of \(A\). Moreover, if \(A\) is a commutative local ring with infinite residue field, then they showed that \(H_k(\text{GL}_n(A))\to H_k(\text{GL}(A))\) is injective and that \(H_k(\text{GL}(A))/H_k(\text{GL}_{n-1}(A))\) is isomorphic to the \(n\)-th Milnor \(K\)-group \(K_n^M(A)\). The author now proves similar results for unstable Quillen \(K\)-groups \(\pi_k(BGL_n^+(A))\). The Milnor \(K\)-group gets replaced with a Milnor--Witt \(K\)-group. The stability bounds significantly improve on earlier bounds and agree with an old conjecture of Bass. (There are exceptions to these bounds for rings with few units.) To get the results for Quillen \(K\)-groups one first derives improved homology stability results for elementary subgroups and for special linear groups. Now let \(A\) be a commutative Noetherian ring of dimension \(d\) all whose residue fields are infinite. As an application the author constructs for any oriented rank \(d\) projective \(A\)-module an Euler class with value in the cohomology of the Milnor-Witt \(K\)-theory sheaf. The class provides the complete obstruction to the splitting off of a rank one free summand. There is also a new presentation of Milnor-Witt \(K\)-theory, and thus of symplectic \(K_2\), of a local ring whose residue field has at least 4 elements.