Groups generated by matrices of finite order (Q6962890)

This paper investigates when matrices over a ring can be written as products of matrices whose orders divide a fixed integer \(k > 1\). The main result gives necessary and sufficient conditions for triangular matrices to admit such a factorization, improving and generalizing prior work on products of involutions and roots of unity.\N\NThe authors extend these results to \(\mathrm{GL}_{n}(F)\) and to the Vershik-Kerov group, showing that matrices whose determinant or diagonal entries have order dividing a power of \(k\) belong to the subgroup generated by matrices of order dividing \(k\) and they establish uniform bounds on the number of factors needed, namely at most four or five. In particular, they sharpen a known bound by showing that five involutions suffice in a case previously requiring six.