Crossed product conditions for central simple algebras in terms of irreducible subgroups. (Q2459995)

Let \(D\) be a finite-dimensional central division algebra over an arbitrary field \(F\). A subgroup \(G\subset\text{GL}_m(D)\) is called irreducible if the \(F\)-span of \(G\) is \(M_m(D)\), i.e., \(F[G]=M_m(D)\). The authors show that \(M_m(D)\) is a crossed product algebra (in the sense that \(M_m(D)\) contains a maximal subfield that is a Galois extension of \(F\)) if and only if \(\text{GL}_m(D)\) contains an irreducible subgroup \(G\) with a normal Abelian subgroup \(A\subset G\) such that \(A\) is its own centralizer in \(G\) and \(F[A]\) contains no zero divisor. Then \(F[A]\) is in fact a maximal subfield, which is a Galois extension of \(F\) with Galois group \(G/A\). This result is applied in the case \(m=1\) to show that \(D\) is a crossed product if its multiplicative group contains an irreducible subgroup that is either Abelian-by-supersolvable, metabelian, locally nilpotent, hypercentral, finite, soluble with no element of order dividing \(\dim D\), or soluble-by-finite with no element of order dividing \(\dim D\) and no normal subgroup isomorphic to \(\text{SL}(2,5)\). The case of torsion-free soluble-by-finite irreducible subgroups was considered by \textit{M. Shirvani} [J. Algebra 294, No.~1, 255-277 (2005; Zbl 1088.16024)].