Linear transformations preserving symmetric rank one matrices (Q583328)

Let R be a commutative ring with identity, and let V be the space of \(n\times n\) symmetric matrices over R. An R-linear transformation \(\tau\) on V is said to ``preserve rank \(\leq 1''\) if, for any \(A\in V\) with rank(A)\(\leq 1\), we have rank(\(\tau\) A)\(\leq 1\) also. Such a transformation is ``natural'' if, for every faithfully flat ring homomorphism \(R\to T\), \(\tau\) also preserves rank \(\leq 1\) matrices over T. The author shows that any rank \(\leq 1\) preserving transformation is natural unless R belongs to a small class of exceptional rings. These rings have many zero-divisors; an example is a ring which contains an element b so that \(0=2b=b^ 2\) and \(x(x-1)b=0\) for all x in R. Explicit unnatural transformations are given. When R is a field, it is possible to describe any natural transformation explicitly in a standard form (unless \(n=2=| R|)\).