Étale difference algebraic groups (Q6567986)

Étale difference algebraic groups can be viewed as a difference analog of étale algebraic groups. They can be described as the affine difference algebraic groups \(G\) such that every element of \(k\{G\}\) satisfies a separable polynomial over \(k\), where \(k\) is an ordinary difference field with an endomorphism \(\sigma\). By interpreting algebraic equations as difference algebraic equations, any étale algebraic group \(\mathcal{G}\) over \(k\) defines an étale difference algebraic group \([\sigma]_{k}\mathcal{G}\) over \(k\). The components of a difference algebraic group \(G\) are the components of the underlying group scheme of \(G\), i.e., the affine group scheme represented by \(k\{G\}\). The \(\sigma\)-identity component \(G^{\sigma \circ}\) of an affine difference group \(G\) is such that \(G/G^{\sigma \circ}\) is finite, that is, \(k\{G/G^{\sigma\circ}\}\) is a finite dimensional \(k\)-vector space. A \(\sigma\)-infinitesimal étale difference algebraic group is an étale difference algebraic group \(G\) such that \(G(R) = 1\) whenever \(\sigma:R\rightarrow R\) is injective (such a group \(G\) is automatically finite). The main result of the paper under review is the following Jordan-Hölder type decomposition theorem: Let \(G\) be an étale difference algebraic group. Then there exists a subnormal series \(G\supseteq G_{1}\supseteq G_{2}\supseteq\dots\supseteq G_{n}\supseteq 1\) of difference algebraic subgroups of \(G\) such that \(G_{1} = G/G^{\sigma\circ}\), \(G_{n}\) is \(\sigma\)-infinitesimal and \(G_{i}/G_{i+1}\simeq [\sigma]_{k}\mathcal{G}_{i}\) for some \(\sigma\)-stably simple étale algebraic group \(G_{i}\) for \(i=1,\dots, n-1\). If \(G\supseteq H_{1}\supseteq H_{2}\supseteq\dots\supseteq H_{m}\supseteq 1\) is another subnormal series such that \(H_{1} = G^{\sigma\circ}\), \(H_{m}\) is \(\sigma\)-infinitesimal and \(H_{i}/H_{i+1}\simeq[\sigma]_{k}\mathcal{H}_{i}\) for some \(\sigma\)-stably simple étale algebraic group \(\mathcal{H}_{i}\) for \(i=1,\dots, m-1\), then \(m=n\) and there exists a permutation \(\tau\) such that \(\mathcal{G}_{i}\) and \(\mathcal{H}_{\tau(i)}\) are \(\sigma\)-stably equivalent. (Here an étale algebraic group \(\mathcal{G}\) is called simple if its only closed normal subgroups are \(1\) and \(\mathcal{G}\) and \(\sigma\)-stably simple if \(^{\sigma^{i}}\mathcal{G}\) is simple for every \(i\in\mathbb{N}\). Two étale algebraic groups \(\mathcal{G}\) and \(\mathcal{H}\) are \(\sigma\)-stably equivalent if there exist \(i, j\in \mathbb{N}\) such that \(^{\sigma^{i}}\mathcal{G}\) and \(^{\sigma^{j}}\mathcal{H}\) are isomorphic.)\N\NIn addition to this main theorem, the author obtains a number of results on the difference identity component of an affine difference algebraic group and the associated group of difference connected components, \(\sigma\)-infinitesimal difference algebraic groups (a difference analog of infinitesimal algebraic groups), and the \(\sigma\)-Frobenius morphism (a difference analog of the Frobenius morphism of an algebraic group).