Representation stability and finite orthogonal groups (Q6146912)

The notion of representation stability considers a sequence of representations \(V_{n}\) of a family of groups \(G_{n}\), with maps \(V_{n} \rightarrow V_{n+1}\) and \(G_{n} \rightarrow G_{n+1}\) that are compatible with the action of \(G_{n}\) on \(V_{n}\). This framework was introduced in [\textit{T. Church} and \textit{B. Farb}, Adv. Math. 245, 250--314 (2013; Zbl 1300.20051)] to describe the frequent observation that various representation-theoretic properties of \(V_{n}\) stabilize for sufficiently large \(n\). In this paper, the authors prove homological stability results about orthogonal groups over finite commutative rings where \(2\) is a unit. Extending methods of [\textit{A. Putman} and \textit{S. V. Sam}, Duke Math. J. 166, No. 13, 2521--2598 (2017; Zbl 1408.18003)], they construct a category \(\mathbf{OrI}(R)\) whose objects are finite-rank free \(R\)-modules equipped with a symmetric bilinear form, and morphisms are isometries. Associated to this category is the functor category \(\mathbf{Rep}_{k}(\mathbf{OrI}(R))\) whose objects are functors from \(\mathbf{OrI}(R)\) to the category of \(k\)-modules and morphisms are natural transformations (\(k\) a Noetherian ring). In Theorem 3.2 it is proved that \(\mathbf{Rep}_{k}(\mathbf{OrI}(R))\) is locally Noetherian. This implies an asymptotic structure theorem for orthogonal groups. The authors apply Theorem 3.2 to prove also a general homological stability theorem with twisted coefficients for (indefinite) orthogonal groups over fields.