Valuation bases for generalized algebraic series fields (Q734779)

Let \(K\) be a field, \(V\) a \(K\)-vector space, \(\Gamma \) a totally ordered set, and \(\infty \) an element larger than any element of \(\Gamma \). A surjective map \(v: V \to \Gamma \cup \{\infty \}\) is called a valuation on \(V\) if the following three conditions hold, for all \(x, y \in V\) and \(r \in K\): (i) \(v(x) = \infty \) if and only if \(x = 0\); (ii) \(v(rx) = v(x)\) in case \(r \neq 0\); (iii) \(v(x-y) \geq \min\{v(x), v(y)\}\). A \(K\)-basis \(\Sigma \) of \(V\) is said to be a \(K\)-valuation basis if the value of each \(v \in V \setminus \{0\}\) equals the minimum of the values of those elements of \(\Sigma \), for which the corresponding \(K\)-coordinates of \(v\) are nonzero. Suppose now that \(F\) is an algebraically (or real) closed field, \(G\) is a countable ordered abelian group, and \(K\) is a countably infinite subfield of \(F\), and denote by \(F(G)\) the fraction field of the group ring \(F[G]\), and by \(F((G))\) the power series field with coefficients in \(F\) and exponents in \(G\). The first main result of the paper under review shows that an intermediate field \(L\) of \(F((G))/F(G)\) admits a \(K\)-valuation basis whenever it satisfies a certain condition (too technical to be stated here), called the transcendence degree reduction property (TDRP) by the authors. For example, this condition is satisfied by \(F(G)\) and by its algebraic closure in \(F((G))\). Note also that the class of fields satisfying the TDRP is closed under adjunction of countably many elements of \(K((G))\). The second main result of the reviewed paper concerns the special case where \(K = \mathbb Q\), the field of rational numbers. It shows that if \(L\) is an intermediate field of \(F((G))/F(G)\) satisfying the TDRP over \(\mathbb Q\), and the (multiplicative) group \(U(L)\) of \(1\)-units is divisible, then \((U(L), \times )\) is a valued \(\mathbb Q\)-vector space which admits a \(\mathbb Q\)-valuation basis. The paper presents several applications of the main results; for example, it shows that if \(F\) is an archimedean real closed field and the group \(G\) is divisible, then the algebraic closure of \(F(G)\) in \(F((G))\) admits a restricted exponential.