Products of \(\lambda\)-transvections in Sp(2n,q) (Q2639177)

Let \(F=GF(q)\) be a finite field of characteristic not two. Assume V is a 2n-dimensional symplectic space equipped with a regular skew symmetric bilinear form f: \(V\times V\to F\) such that \(f(v,w)=v^ tJw\) for some regular matrix J and v,w\(\in V\). The mapping \(T=I+\lambda vv^ tJ\) for some \(\lambda \in F^*\) is called a \(\lambda\)-transvection; \(\lambda\) is determined only up to squares. Since \(| F^*/F^{*2}| =2\) there are exactly two conjugacy classes of \(\lambda\)-transvections over a finite field of odd characteristic. For a symplectic transformation A in the symplectic group Sp(2n,q) the minimal number of \(\lambda\)- transvections \(T_ i\) with \(A=T_ 1...T_ r\) is called the \(\lambda\)- length \(\ell_{\lambda}(A)\) of A. The purpose of the paper is to determine the \(\lambda\)-length of a symplectic transformation \(A\in Sp(2n,q)\). For \(q>3\), the \(\lambda\)-length is given by the rank r(A) of A-I if the basic equation \(x^ tJAx=-\lambda^{-1}\) is solvable and \(\det (T_ 1...T_ rA-I)F^{*2}=1\cdot F^{*2}\), otherwise the length of A is \(r(A)+1\). The authors show also that the assumption \(q>3\) cannot be removed.