No label defined (Q3153404)

The paper under review is a survey of the development of valuation theory on noncommutative associative division algebras, especially those of finite dimensions over their centres. Built up upon the basis of the classical theory of Krull valuations on fields, this generalization has provided the research into the structure of central simple algebras, and other related areas, with effective tools for finding the solution to a number of open problems, such as the proof of the existence of noncrossed product division algebras (Amitsur), of division algebras with a nontrivial reduced Whitehead group (Platonov), of indecomposable central division algebras of exponents less than their Schur indices (Saltman), etc. An account of the study of these important aspects of the theory can be found in Sections 5, 6 and 7 of the survey. The author recalls in Section 1 the definitions of a valuation \(v\) on a division ring \(D\) on an Abelian totally ordered group, of the valuation ring of \((D,v)\), of a total valuation ring of \(D\), and of a Dubrovin valuation ring of a simple Artinian ring \(A\). Section 2 presents the definitions of the basic algebraic structures associated with a Krull valuation \(v\) of a central division \(F\)-algebra \(D\) of finite dimension, including the residue division algebra \(\widehat D\) and the value group \(v(D)\), and also, a statement of the necessary and sufficient condition (obtained independently by the author and Ershov) for extendability of a valuation \(w\) of a field \(F\) on a given central division \(F\)-algebra \(\Delta\); when the prolongation \(w_\Delta\) exists, it is unique. This is supplemented by a description of the behaviour of the basic numerical invariants associated with \(w_\Delta/w\) (the Ostrowski-Draxl theorem and the related results due to Tomchin-Yanchevskij). In Sections 3 and 4 the author gives a brief account of the study of the structure of \(\Delta\) in the special case where the valuation \(w\) is Henselian (which ensures the existence of \(w_\Delta\)), mainly, along the lines of a well-known joint paper by \textit{B. Jacob} and the author [see J. Algebra 128, No. 1, 126-179 (1990; Zbl 0692.16011)]. It provides an essentially complete information about a number of general properties of tame central division \(F\)-algebras, based on the established relations between them and the more special types of tame totally ramified, inertially split, nicely semiramified, and inertial central division \(F\)-algebras (each of them considered in detail). The concluding Section of the survey contains characterizations of Dubrovin valuation rings of a simple Artinian ring \(A\), a general existence theorem for such rings, and a comprehensive presentation of their properties. It is preceeded by a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a total valuation ring of a finite dimensional central division \(F\)-algebra that includes a given valuation ring of \(F\), and by a very brief Section about orderings on division algebras. The survey is illustrated by many examples and ends with an extensive bibliography. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0993.00030].