Groups with root system of type \(G_2\). (Q2583033)

The author completes a programme for the groups of type \(G_2\) set up by Timmesfeld. The idea is the following. Chevalley groups of type \(G_2\) posses a system of root groups, indexed by the roots of a root system of type \(G_2\) and satisfying two basic properties, namely, root groups indexed by opposite roots generate a rank 1 group (or split BN-pair of rank 1), and the commutator of two root groups belonging to two non opposite roots \(\alpha,\beta\) is contained in the group generated by the root groups belonging to the roots which are positive integer linear combinations of \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\). Now the question is: can we classify groups with the above properties? Clearly, Chevalley groups of (relative) type \(G_2\) qualify. But there are other cases, e.g.~when all commutators mentioned above are trivial. In the paper under review, the author pins down all possibilities. Basically, there are four of them. Besides the two already mentioned, there is an annoying case in which one only knows that all root groups are elementary Abelian \(2\)-groups or \(3\)-groups, and there is the interesting case that \(G\) is of Chevalley type \(A_3\) (the above mentioned case that all root groups commute is in fact a subcase of the more general case that the Chevalley type of \(G\) is reducible and \(G\) is a central product; the author does not complete the job in this case, but mentions that H.~Queslati did so in a yet unpublished work, relying on the present paper).